the dabbler

Happy Harper Hoot-y Halloween

2011-10-31T11:11:00.001-07:00

I was ready to sew costumes for everyone this year. I had it in my head that I NEEDED to hand make all 3 kids a costume. Then Griffin decided he wanted to be a Field Biologist. He has all the gear already, so no costume was needed. Next, Rowan opted to be a baby...so 1 pair of feetie jammies (from Target - no way was I going to attempt that) later and a quick gathering of Harper's gear and she was ready. Harper, being currently unable to articulate ideas (in English anyways) was then stuck being the only one I sewed for... and thus the recipient of an entire blog post.

Please bear with me on the pics. Harper is having a messy cold - so if she looks boogery, now you know why. I was able to snap these right after her second nap today and thought maybe she was on the mend. Alas - I don't think so.... as you'll see on the last pic.

I had originally wanted to make a Princess Leia costume for Harps. I saw the cutest one ever on Crafster (here)... but after 2 failed attempts at drafting a pattern for the dress, that idea was thrown out. I hemmed and hawed about running to a store and buying a costume (this was Saturday) but after a little blog surfing and some Pinterest time, I decided on an owl for her costume. Not just any owl.... but Hedwig (from Harry Potter, in case you have not read the books umpteen times or watched Harry Potter Marathons on multiple occasions as we have). And not just any Hedwig, but a Shabby Chic one... with ruffles and lace for feathers. It all came together in a very short period of time, even while feeling like crud.

The mask was inspired by these ones.... so cute and quick! It is designed to be worn as a mask over the eyes or on the forehead -which is the only place Harper is tolerating it.

The dress is made up of layer after layer of thrifted ruffles and lace, sewed onto a tank dress (I used this pattern as a starting point). Instead of bias tape on the shoulders, I opted for ribbon and vintage buttons. I am hoping that this dress could stretch into Thanksgiving, maybe with this bolero?

The cape is lined with cream corduroy and the outside is burlap and thrifted chenille. I sewed elastic on the corners to attach to Harper's wrists so she could show her wing span - and look more bird-like instead of super hero. Hopefully this will also keep her warm - it will be COLD tonight!!

Did I mention we don't feel well today? Harper or myself? We are a mess. I got about 2 minutes or cooperation for these photos and then tried to clean up her messy nose. This is how the rest of the day has gone... I need a nap.

Happy Halloween!

Babies and Puppies....

2011-10-23T19:00:00.000-07:00

Dave took the bigs to the "land" to explore and dig and get dirty. That left me home alone with Miss Harps- of whom I took a zillion pictures to try to fully capture her 9-month-old-ness. She is trouble - into everything. She (along with all other babies, I know) seems to instinctually know what things she should not touch (electric cords and outlets, phones, computers, remotes, etc) and gravitate towards them. I'm sure it has much to do with the fact that Dave and I use these items (er... too frequently?) and she'd like to see what the draw is. I played around with some photoshop actions (very fun - from here) on her pics - here are the results.

What made the weekend more challenging than just chasing a 9 month old was the addition of Jasper Fox Thom. Rowan got the best 9th birthday gift ever last weekend - a 7 week old German Shepherd pup. He is adorable - but like Harper - very interested in items he should not be. Like baby toys, nuks, yarn, books, blankets, my ankles, etc. Here is Jasper (yes - I doctored this pic too). He is adorable. Puppy and baby - seriously too sick.

While I was kept very busy with these 2 this weekend, I was also kept up late letting dogs outside and rocking unsleeping babies. Mixed into this time (now I can't remember when it actually occured, it is all a fog), I did some minor projects. Mostly things I could do without going into my craft room and using my sewing machine. All the projects were either Pinterest or Blog inspired - so many great ideas out there, so little time!

First up, I added doilies and buttons to some pillows I've had in my entry way forever. The pillows are straw/raffia like and can't really be washed. I tacked on some doilies made by my step-grandma and thrifted buttons. Before, they were just "eh". Now I love them....

Next up, I nailed a big old window frame from our cabin remodel to the wall. With the addition of some dry erase markers - voila, a white board. I'm trying hard to get organized- including planning and remembering things on or before they actually occur. Hopefully this helps. It is also a message center of sorts for the mornings that Dave gets the kids out the door. I can write notes to them in one central location and hope that at least the literate children will find them :)

Last, I saw a cute idea on Pinterest of adding script to a lamp shade. All it takes is a sharpie and something to say. I used a book Dave gave me on our first Christmas together - it is a "poem a day" book. I found poems from each of our dates of birth and wrote lines from them on the shade. The lamp and shade were originally thrifted - love the green, jade-like glass on the lamp. I like it better now - though I am constantly finding flaws in my handwriting. I think some black trim may need to be added to the top and bottom of the shade to really finish it - but I'll live with it a bit for now as is.

As an "apple doesn't fall far..." kind of story, my mom did the sharpie lamp tutorial first. I had saw it in Pinterest but with so many thoughts and ideas bombarding me in that minute, I scrolled right past it Hours later, I was face-timing her so she could see Harps and she showed me her lamp. Hers is quite cute, so it is really she that I copied/flattered with my own version.

I'm exhausted after our weekend - even after a decent nap today with Harps. You know that there must be a master plan when you see how much trouble puppies and babies can get in - but all you can focus on is how damn cute they are...

Pumpkin and Pinterest

2011-10-13T20:18:00.001-07:00

The idea of putting Harper in a pumpkin was forwarded to me by my Aunt, who saw it on Pinterest. Then, because I had to catch up with the times and join Pinterest myself, I spied the adorable hats on there as well. I managed to whip up the hats (from the GREAT tute here) and carve out the pumpkin... but relied on the Brooke and here amazing creative genius to do the actual photos. Oh - and I relied on her to provide the adorable, witchy model as well!

Owlies

2011-10-08T12:47:00.001-07:00

In the crafting world, I think owls are a bit passe. (How would I know? I've done minimal to no crafting for the past 9 months -since Harper was born- and only baby sewing for the 9 months prior to that!) Lucky for us, my almost 9 year old and just turned 9 month old don't know or care YET about "trends"- so we made up a few owl stuffies for cuddling and loving.

Harper's owl was made by closely following a pattern in Aimee Ray's Doodle Stitching. I forgot how quick and easy this comes together (I made a few way back). I had wool felt in the stash - though I did not use the colors in the book. The wool felt was sooo very nice - much more sturdy and forgiving than craft felt. The kids named this owl Jr.

Note: Harper didn't name him - though she did drool and chew on him. That is love, for sure.

For Rowan's owl I loosely followed the same pattern - though the main fabric on hers is flannel and it is obviously much larger. I cut out felt for the eyes and nose - and did not embroider on the feathers or outline. Rowan named her owl "Sir Hoots A Lot". Hmmm... it is funny (to me) that she is naming this after a character in the movie Bedtime Stories, not the 80's singer/rapper. Ha!

Sir Hoots a Lot and Jr making nice.

Time flies...

2011-10-06T20:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, time does fly when you are having fun... but it seems to do so more just by living a rather chaotic life. The bigs are back in school and we are now running to religion classes, Cub Scouts, Basketball and Wrestling on any given weeknight, Harper is a crawling maniac and into EVERYTHING, Dave is nearing the end of his MBA program and work is crazy busy of late. None of this is meant as a lament, but more my own rationale as to why it has been so dang long since my last post.

Has there been crafting? Well, a smidge. Not as much as I would like, but some quickies here and there. I jumped onto the Pinterest bandwagon and am falling in love with the Internet again. So many projects, so little time :)

For now - here are some recent photos. Sewing/crafting projects will be posted SOON!

Brooke just took family pics of us. As usual, her talent is awesome, and I have to admit my kids are pretty dang cute too...

After loading the next pictures, I realize how pitiful they look next to Brooke's shots. So, please - disregard the poor quality/composition (and other photographer-type stuff) of these next shots :)

Here is Rowan tending the fire at the cabin...

Here are the bigs on their first day back at school

And a quick one from Griffin's birthday party...

6 months later....Baby Smocket

2011-08-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

Really, it is almost 7 months since Miss Harper Adelia joined the family. It is hard to remember life before she arrived - she is so dang much fun. That fun has caused an impromptu hiatus from my sewing, crafting and dabbling, granted, but I am sure this too shall pass. Just yesterday I had exactly 30 minutes to craft. Yes - 30 minutes. Harper is sleeping through the night like a champion, but her daily nap(s) are iffy. I know I can usually count on a half our out of them, but nothing longer is guaranteed. After getting her down yesterday, I quickly grabbed the homemade Smocket passed to us from Brooke, traced it on new fabric and sewed it together. Then, because one must coordinate, I frantically searched my patterns for Dana's Diaper Cover pattern, gave up and reprinted it and threw a matching diaper cover together as well. Honestly, I was closer to 32 minutes all said and done, and only that because my sewing machine and ironing board are set up in the dining room, but I managed to finish just in time for her to hungrily wake from her nap. Here is Harps in her new digs....

I promise she is happier than those 2 photos would make her appear. Here is a smiley one with her big sis.

For the patterns, I made Harps the 12 month size diaper cover (yes, she is quite large - above 95% for her age) - and extended the top about an inch, since I only found 1 inch elastic. The smocket, as I stated earlier, was traced, but I know Brooke eyeballed the pattern and free hand sized it down to fit her V. It is pretty forgiving with the tie straps. The fabric on the side showing (it is reversible, but I have no shots of the back yet) is Tina Givens' Olivia's Holiday. Love it- it has been waiting in the stash for the perfect project, and this was it.

It is hard to just blame Harper for my crafting recess. The kids being out of school is also contributing - We've been having a blast entertaining at the lake - lots of great people, such good food, so many delicious cocktails - it has been fantastic! We had Harper's 6 month photos taken at the lake. Yes, Brooke did it again. Her ability and talent leave me in awe. Here is the link to the pics, but I'll share a couple....can't help it.

Leaving the sewing equipment in the dining room was a small bit of strateg-ery on my part. I'm hoping that having my gear where it can be accessed quickly and painlessly will prompt some more quick projects. We'll soon see - my list of sewing "to do's" took no hiatus, so it is ready for me to get moving.

Quick Change Trousers

2011-05-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

There is some humor in including the word "quick" in the title of this blog post. Returning to sewing post baby has been anything but. Partly due to wanting to hold this little one 24/7, partly due to big sibs demanding their fair share of attention and partly due to my craft room being a place where chaos reigned. Lucky for me, the wee one is starting to become a tad more regularly scheduled - meaning she is routinely laying down twice a day. The duration of said naps is up for debate, but I can look forward to a little down time each day. After a roller coaster spring, it is finally warm enough for the bigs to play outside. Finally, my grandma came to visit and demanded we do some heavy labor. We decided to tackle the craft room - and now it is a thing of beauty. All these lead me to some time and room to sew -Hooray!

This weekend - while Dave was fishing at the cabin with "the guys", I managed some time to sew a couple pair of "Quick Change Trousers" from Anna Maria Horner's Handmade Beginnings book. One pair for Miss Harper, and a pair as a "thank you" to a friend of my Aunt who gave me her portable baby swing.

Here are the pair for an almost 2 year old boy - the fun part being that they are reversible...so they are really "two for one".

Back side of the pair- love the contrasting panel.

Here is the front of this side.

If you turn them inside out, they are light blue (maybe a little "scrub-bish") with a green contrasting panel on the backside.

Here are Harper's pants- the inspiration for the red side being the girl pair photographed in the book - loved the red/yellow combo.

(back)

(front)

And the reverse side....

(front)

(back)

I used all thrifted/vintage-y fabrics for Harp's. I made her the 9 month size - a little long now, but should be perfect in a few months.

Harper also got a huivi from a fabric scrap. She was holding one over her face while I sewed, so I quickly hemmed it up and added a "bow" to make it girly. She looks ridiculously adorable - in a silly way.

Drat -her foot got the close up here - but her blurry face is funny!

C'mon - you can see why I've dawdled getting back to sewing, right??

Almost on track...

2011-03-23T10:04:00.000-07:00

I swear I'm getting ready to get back on track to real life. It has been a long extended baby moon at my house. Hard to do much of anything while this little one has captured all our hearts. She is the smiliest little thing - and anytime you smile at her you are sure to get one back at you. What is a mom to do, but spend hours then encouraging the smiles?

I'm blessed to have a fantastic friend to document Harper's early days. Brooke did another photo session of her at 2 months just before we left for spring break. (full post here). I don't know if it is the extremely talented photographer or my absolute bias for the model, but I LOVE love love these pics. Here are some to share...

Remember when I made this hat? She is posing in it here along with Dave's childhood bear Junior. So dang cute!

Back to work next week (Boo! - part time, but still Boo!). I actually end up being more productive domestically when I'm working part time outside the home. Odd, huh? Guess that is the chaos that is my (our) life! Plan to see some sewing or crafting posts soon...for now I'm back to cuddling.

Dinosaur PJs for Three

2011-03-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

I picked out fabric in December hoping to make PJs for Christmas gifts for the kids. That did not happen - let's blame the 9 months of pregnancy. I finally got them made up a month or so back, but just now got around to take some pictures. Just in time too - Harper is almost grown out of hers!

I used three different patterns for these - Harper's are from Rae's (free) newborn pant tutorial, Griffin's are from Weekend Sewing and Rowan's are from a thrifted vintage pattern that I had in my stash. Fabric is from Fabric.com. It has washed up really nice - which is good since Harper will wear these 3 times!

Aren't these teeny ones adorable??

Asking Griffin to pose for photos was hilarious. As you can see.

The "bigs" really love their little sister. They fought over who got to hold her for the pics. To be fair, they each got a turn.

Birdie Spring Ensemble

2011-03-02T06:07:00.001-08:00

Yes - this baby sewing is proving to be addicting. I sewed up another quick spring break outfit for Harper. As you can see, she was not too interested in posing for this one - but I still want to eat her up. Love her leg chub!

I *heart* this outfit - love the pattern(s) and model and fabric. The fabric is my favorite colors - I picked it up at my local fabric outlet a long while back and almost forgot about it. We do have pillows at the cabin out of this same print - so Harper will blend in on the sofa when we can finally venture to the lake again. We'll have to do a "where's Waldo" pic of that when we head north.

The top is a tutorial/pattern from here...I can see myself whipping up some fun bias tape and making piles of these. I added a ruffle to the bottom. I even managed to change my serger needle and setting (which I am normally too lazy to do) and used the rolled hem on the ruffle. Whoa! I realized when I went to find the link to the tute to blog this, that I modified it...huh. I downloaded the pattern so long ago, I just kind of winged it - sewing it from the pattern only without looking at the pics or directions. Now I want to make one like Petchy did - cute!

I used the Diaper Cover pattern from here (again) and can see making these in mass quantities as well. Easy, fast, and forgiving... my kind of project.

One more shot of Miss Harper and her Birdie Ensemble!

The carpal tunnel has finally left, so I have some long overdue embroidery and crocheting to do - which will possibly work better than sewing projects with the constant nursing we have going on. We'll have to see how we do with skeins of yarn and flailing baby limbs!

Spring Break outfit

2011-02-28T13:27:00.000-08:00

No... I'm not going to blog about bikinis and daisy dukes (for which you should all be grateful). Rather the spring break outfit that a 8 week old would/could wear. Yes - I've finally stopped endlessly staring into her bluey-blacky eyes long enough to sew something. She did sit on my lap for the final hemming - so it was a team effort. Here is Harper's spring break ensemble...

We are heading to Austin, TX for Spring Break in a couple weeks - which entails a 19 hour car ride with 3 (yes 3 now) kidlets. That is a blog post in itself, but for now, the outfit. Harper needs some clothes to wear in the sun- and I need/want to try out all the fantastic tutorials I've favorite-ed over the past few years.

I modified this dress tutorial to be a sleeveless dress/top. Add the diaper cover from here - and we have an outfit! The owl fabric was from the Crafty Planet and the linen was from Joanns.

While I think the little miss looks pretty dang cute even in her puke stained onesies, I especially like her in a homemade outfit from her mama. She seems to like it too!

It even got a smile out of her :)

Too much fun to sew for her -minute amounts of fabric used, and she doesn't argue about wearing it! Hooray! I think it is roomy enough to last if spring or summer ever arrives in Minnesota again...

Harper says "Bye now"...

Welcome Harper Adelia...

2011-01-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

She is all of 10 days old today...and we are so very glad she is here ;)

Here is our little Harper Adelia.

My favorite photographer snapped the shot above - there will be more to come. The photo session lasted well into 3 hours, and had us giggling and laughing over Harper's belly button (which ended up coming off during the session). Can't wait to see the rest of the pics!

She arrived Friday January 7th, weighing a whopping 9 lbs 10 oz, and a whole 22 inches long. Like with Griffin, no one thought she was going to be this big. We are happy to report our experience with Griffin sleeping well (he was 9 lbs 15 oz) is continuing to his little sister. She has routinely only woken up 1 time a night, otherwise I'm actually waking her to nurse. Craziness!

Here she is with big brother and sister as well as her cousins Chloe and Oliver.

Big sister and brother LOVE LOVE LOVE her. Both are thrilled she is here and are reacting better than we could have ever hoped.

Love her cheeks....

I'm completely lost in looking at her lately, so won't be doing much crafting to post about. Seriously, I could stare at her little toes, fingers or nose for hours on end.

Various crafting...none baby related

2010-12-22T17:49:00.000-08:00

To prove that I am in fact crafting for people other than the baby (ahem, myself), I thought I'd post a few of my recent projects that are NOT baby related. I've got some more done, but won't post those until after Christmas, since the intended recipients are blog readers. Just a note -some of these pictures were taken with my phone, so forgive the lighting/poor quality, etc.

Remember me mentioning that I initially tried to make a tote bag for a diaper bag? Here were the results of that endeavor- both ended up being teacher gifts. I had the black canvas on hand from when I patched Dave's snowmobile cover last year and the IKEA fabrics were both thrifted. When I found them at Goodwill, I was not sure what I'd do with less than 1/4 a yard of each of them, but liked them enough to shell out $1.50 for them both.

While they are not necessarily good diaper bags (no pockets at all) I like how they turned out overall. One I went for LL bean type straps, the other was larger and had simple straps just long enough to throw the bag over your shoulder. I packaged these up with homemade caramels (thanks to Jen's recipe) and the kids said the teachers were happy campers.

Next up is a t-shirt quilt. My cousin Sara is planning to surprise a friend and show up in Hawaii for Christmas to see him. She asked if we could put together a quilt made from Twins t-shirts as his gift. To get the shirts we needed, she raided some thrift stores and her family members' closets and then found an odd man selling 87 and 91 championship sweatshirts on craigslist. She also found a fun remnant of baseball themed fabric. We managed to throw it together in less than 4 hours - backing it with red fleece and using embroidery floss to tie quilt it. Perfect man quilt, per my hubby. Took longer to drive to get her and bring her back home in a snow storm then it did to make the quilt! All worth it - the chatting was great and she brought me all my favorite treats from the Old Spaghetti Factory (where I worked in college and she does now).

See her peeking out over the top? Thanks Sara - have fun in the sun!!

Last up was a gift for my friend Kim for her birthday last week. She had liked the jewelry frame hanger I made for our friend Jen a while back, so I crafted up one for her. I had a frame on hand that I painted white, added re purposed screen to the opening for hanging earrings, screwed in 3 cup hooks to the bottom to hang necklaces or bracelets from and embellished it a bit to match her bedroom. Somewhat sadly, it was gifted while the paint was still a little tacky (nothing says thoughtful gifter then to give something 1/2 done), but Kim is a smart cookie and hung it up to dry in her garage for awhile :) Thanks for your patience Kim! Hope it matches your room!

I've got a few more Christmas related projects in the hopper - nothing says holidays to me than sewing up gifts the day before they are given :) HA!

Diaper Bag, at last

2010-12-22T06:33:00.000-08:00

One of the projects I've been both dreading and anticipating was sewing a diaper bag. The thought of interfacing was making me cringe, but I knew I wanted to make a bag and not spend lots of cash on one I would not love. I INTENDED to make one with somewhat neutral fabric so Dave would be happy carrying it, but at 10 pm when you realize you don't have enough of the planned fabric, you sometimes throw your best laid plans out the window and make do. I originally started out with a tote bag style in mind, but those ended up as teacher gifts, as the interior and pocketing process did not work out as I wanted. I'll show pics of those in a later day, assuming the quick pics I took with my phone are decent. I then googled and researched for a while until I found the perfect pattern. Let me caveat this by stating I was more than willing to purchase a pattern for a diaper bag, just could not find one I liked. The various reviews I read on the patterns for sale all seemed to point to something wrong - floppy, lack of pockets, too big, to small... you get the idea. Then I saw this tutorial (FREE) for the "Hip Mama Diaper Bag", and fell in love. Pockets galore, and a messenger bag style - what is not to lurve? The tutorial was dreamy easy to follow (ahem, assuming you read it, I did have 1 mishap an 1 near miss, but neither ruined the bag). The only modifications I made were to use fusible fleece to face the handle (I like a padded handle on my bags) and since I did not have any vinyl for the interior, I used corduroy. It is maybe a little floppier than I'd like, but as I've started to stock it up I think it will work fantastic.

Fabric is Anna Maria Horner on the exterior, thrifted corduroy on the interior. There are magnetic snaps holding down the flap in front, 2 front pockets and side pockets that have velcro to keep them closed. The back has a large zipped pocket and inside has 5 bottle/diaper pockets that have elastic to keep them together.

Front and side pockets shown here......

Back zipper...

Interior shot. Look at all the pockets~! I plan to make a changing pad to fit in here today. Plenty of room :)

Did I mention I love it?

Can't wait for this little one to make her grand entrance so we can use it! Less than 2 weeks til her due date!! Hurry up little Miss No Name, we can't wait to meet you!

Baby bedding and other projects.

2010-12-08T07:51:00.000-08:00

I'm getting my baby checklist taken care of - project by project. With only 4 weeks to go, I now have a raging case of carpal tunnel syndrome - had to get new braces for both wrists -so the crafting is taking a little longer than it should. All worth it though :)

I added some length to thrifted curtains for what will be the GIRLS room. The add on fabric was a IKEA curtain that I've chopped into for various projects.

I told myself a baby quilt was not necessary, as you don't actually cover them up, but could not help making a quick one to match their lime, aqua and hot pink room. I used scrap fabrics I had on hand, as well as a pillow case and the rest of the re purposed bed ruffle (I found a twin size one at the thrift store I shrunk down to crib size). Love this quilt. The hand binding was a complete pain, but it kept the insomniac busy last night.

The back is an IKEA sheet that came with a duvet set we never used. Then I used the left over scraps to make a patchworky binding too.

Here it is next to the bedskirt and thrifted crib sheet.

I read about 50 tutorials on making a car seat cover. None really dealt with the wonky handle on our new seat (old one was "expired"??). So, after having velcro straps sewn on that did not work, I ripped them out and added ribbon to tie on for now. Don't love, but it should serve its purpose. Love the Tina Givens fabric though....the back side is some thrifted knit.

And the reverse side...

Last I used this tutorial to make a sheet for our co-sleeper. I used a thrifted flannel sheet and had it done in under 15 minutes. I have enough sheet for maybe 2 more as well. Great tutorial!

I've got a diaper bag and a sling left on the horizon. Tried to make a sling on Monday but something went awry and it doesn't even work for Rowan to carry a doll in. Hmmmmmm....also plan to throw in some Christmas gifts, but we'll have to see how the hands hold out!

Tiny Headwear

2010-12-02T15:28:00.000-08:00

Yep - you guessed it. I've moved on to baby hats now. Since my previous 2 beasties have had huge heads, I am making headgear larger than normal "newborn" size. (I tell myself their large head sizes are meant to hold all their brains, btw). I found a great crocheted tutorial here to make a basic hat, and despite frequent stops due to pregnancy induced carpal tunnel in my right hand, these hats really fly together.

Here is the first one I did with bright pink yarn. I added a thrifted doily and a vintage button to dress it up a bit.

I made another in brown yarn and then added ears using this tutorial. My ears are a bit lopsided, but I think they will do :) Love it!

Last up was a quick headband. I made some spiral flowers out of some gray wool felt during our long Turkey Day drive. I stitched them on to a piece of striped knit (from a Target dollar land scarf) and for now have tied the bottom together. I plan to sew this when I can actually measure how big Miss 3's head is, but for now will leave it tied.

As a side note, I posed what is turning into the great name debate out on a fun blog - Swistle Baby Names. The blog author and her many commentors help with baby naming. Since Dave will no longer even talk about names with me (he keeps escaping to his basement man cave when I bring it up), it is nice to get some real opinions from those who love baby names. Here is my post....I'd love to hear your ideas as well! We've only got 4 1/2 weeks left!!

Onesie Mania

2010-11-29T12:32:00.000-08:00

We are scrambling a bit to get things together for the baby. Or maybe I should clarify, I'm scrambling to get things together. Dave is calmly living life "business as usual". Maybe it is because the baby is in my uterus that stresses me out that much more? I've got a hunch she will be arriving earlier than later -which would be wonderful (ahem, tax write off and in time for Christmas!!) - but this early thought is pushing me to get things taken care of NOW. I got around to hanging up clothes in the baby's (shared) closet last week and realized I had somehow attained 4 ugly onesies along the way. Not sure if they were all thrifted? Maybe some hand me downs from cousins and friends? I do know they were all "pre loved" and (I hoped) worth saving. Some had ugly decals, some were boyish, some had minor staining... all 4 needed help, so onesie makeover time it was.

Onesie #1: We spent multiple hours in the car for Thanksgiving, so I was able to make up a pile of these "twisty flowers" to adorn things. I added 3 white flowers (made from t-shirt scraps) to this green and white striped onesie, and then sewed on some vintage clear buttons to create a necklace look. Much more girly :)

Onesie #2: This yellow onesie had some stains in the front. I blanket stitched a "bib" on and then added a ruffle and buttons down the front. Much better! Love the colors.

Onesie #3: I added an appliqued bird and some "ground" to hide stains and make this blue onesie more girlie. The eye is a button and I quickly embroidered something resembling a beak. The legs are just zig zagged on with black thread. I love the bird - I will be adding this guy to some more creations for sure.

Onesie #4: This onesie had an ugly, scratchy decal on it. I added the owl using reverse applique so I could cut out the scratchy animal that was on it already. I added thrifted buttons for eyes and zig zagged the legs (again). In the picture you will see what looks like stains near the "ears", but it was just me dabbing it with water to get rid of the water soluble pen marks. No time to wait for it to dry before pics, of course :)

I dabbled in some headgear for the little miss as well. I'll be posting these goodies later this week! Hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday!

Sister Sewing

2010-11-19T06:45:00.000-08:00

Rowan has been sewing with me lately...and wanted to make up some baby items. Since my patience is somewhat lacking, I tried to give her projects that would not require a large amount of parental guidance. She did great - I'm impressed with how she thinks through the project to figure out what she needs to do all along the way. So very planful and cautious.

First, Rowan made a "taggy crinkly toy"... not sure what else to call it. One side has her fun fabric and a small piece of minky is on the other side. The ribbons give the baby something to grab on to and play with. Griffin loved the tags on his toys and blankets, so if Little Miss 3 is anything like her big brother, she'll love this. Inside we sandwiched a piece of plastic (the wrap of a bag of microwave popcorn) so it crinkles when it is grabbed. I read a tutorial for this, but can't remember where - the author said she had washed hers multiple times and the plastic was holding up great.

Minky side...

Cotton side....

Rowan also grabbed a piece of scrapped t-shirt and made a newborn hat. She used this tutorial and it turned out adorable. So proud (sniff). It is super easy to make and you use the t-shirts hem to save yourself from having to hem the brim/edge.

Rowan also started on a small quilt we hope to finish this weekend. I'm happy (proud, thrilled, excited, giddy) to say more projects from Rowan will be coming soon :)

Patchwork Sleep Sack

2010-11-17T11:26:00.001-08:00

Since sleeping is not working out for me of late, I was able to finish and start some projects last night. Ack - I know I will sleep again (and be wistfully thinking about doing it after the little miss is born) but I totally forgot how frustrating it is to lay there and have your mind race and not be able to fall asleep. I keep thinking about expired car seats (who knew they could expire? And what kind of horrible mother am I to even debate if it matters?), recalled crib parts (how did my 2 and their 4 cousins survive in this crib?) and the elusive baby name. Around midnight, I decided that at least this time can be productive. I had started the adorable patchwork sleep sack from Handmade Beginnings this past weekend, and was just waiting to add the Velcro and sew up the bottom. I finished it around 2 a.m after another round of burp cloths and a bib were completed as well. Here is the sleep sack:

And the back side....

A close up of the patchwork (don't look too close though):

Like some others out in blog and flickr land, I made a few very minor changes. The pattern and directions were very easy to understand and follow....even for my uber pregnant mind. Here are my (either of my own or borrowed from others who trod before me) mods:

I used 3" squares for the patchwork....hoping to get it done faster. Still tedious, but maybe a little quicker than the 2" Anna Maria used?
I used the bias tape to encase both sides/edges of the sack, mitering the corner.
I added a bit of piecework the back, mainly to not waste the patchwork I had made and not used.
After sewing the bottom together, I serged the edge, since this was the only unfinished edge still showing (though only inside the sack).

I'll admit the fabrics in the sack do match the kimono tops and pant sets I made last week, but the fact that I had already made about 6 yards of bias tape caused me to coordinate all the fabrics around the bias tape. I love the color combination - not too pink and girly, but still feminine. The patch working itself was a bit tedious, but not difficult. I do not claim to be a quilter, so my squares do not always line up, but I love how it ended up.

Here are the other goodies -

I tried backing some burp cloths with a new towel ($2 on the Target end cap, it is the lime green showing) and then did a 2 sided flannel one and frayed the edges (like the pattern tutorial here, where I found the template, actually called for). One more bib rounded out the late night projects...in more Tina Givens fabric. Love these. Not sure if I should keep them for me or get them out the door for some baby gifts since there seem to be many of us carrying around baby bumps right now.

I am hoping to get the crib up and bedding made this weekend, so I'll post more details as they are done (probably in the wee hours of the morn).

Oh -and thought I'd share for the sake of my Texan fans (hey Nance) how it looks outside here.... brrrr!! Tell Apple Jack to bundle up!

You guessed it... more baby sewing

2010-11-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

Not surprising, there was more baby sewing done here this past week. How could I not make these cute newborn pants from Made by Rae? And of course they needed coordinating tops, so Martha's kimono pattern came in somewhat handy.

One set was made using Heather Ross fabric I've been hoarding for a long while now. I made the matching bias tape to make it fun, and love it. Too cute - though anything this tiny is dang adorable regardless.

The other set was made using Tina Givens fabric - and I realized after cutting out the kimono top that I cut these out so that the front would be upside down. Not a good pattern for a directional print, I guess. I fixed the mermaid version, and tried to fix this one as well, but after cutting the neckline 3 different times, this is how it ended up. Oh well. If baby looks down at herself, it will be perfect :)

I have to stop with making newborn sized clothes - either they will fit for only a few weeks or not at all (if Little miss is Griffin sized). They are just so dang cute....

Here are the kimonos... the pattern is not beginner type easy, or possibly my pregnant brain did not comprehend it all or read it correctly. It ended up ok. I do like them.

Here are just the pants...so quick and easy and teensy.

We've got a few more projects in the works... sew more to come.

More baby sewing

2010-11-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

What does every newborn need in her wardrobe? Well, if I were to gage things by my girlfriend Brooke, I'd have to say shoes. I remember her being pregnant with her baby girl and making piles of fabric shoes (near the point of obsession). I've made these as gifts for other before, but it is so very much fun to make them for my own wee one.

The pattern is from here, and you can use tiny amounts of fabric to make them funky. I raided my scrap bin for these three pair, and barely used any fabric at all. I made these three assembly line fashion, and while I think I saved a ton of time, I did manage to use the heel planned for one shoe on another, so be careful (Or just don't sew with a pregnant brain).

Here are the three I made on Monday.

Pair 1 is my favorite - and this is actually the pair I added the wrong heel to. It was supposed to have a pink polka dot heel, but now I love the contrast of the green with the brown. The bows are dang cute too....

Pair 2 have vintage buttons and pleather soles. Love them.

Pair 3 is from some of my favorite fabric (Birdseed - Alexander Henry).

Can't wait to try them on some little feet :)

Baby sewing

2010-11-10T12:45:00.000-08:00

There has been little crafting here of late, thus little reason for crafty blogging. I'd like to blame it on my pregnancy, which is partly true - I have been much more inclined to read than craft. Just finished the Suzanne Collins Hunger Games trilogy, btw, good stuff. I like to say I am pre-reading these for my niece and daughter, but honestly, I love teeny bopper lit. And being able to do it laying down has saved me so far from the puffy ankles that plagued me with the first 2 beasties.

The "kick in the pants" I guess I needed to get some sewing done was 2 fold. First, Dave painted my craft room for me and I spent at least a week getting it completely in order. I'm talking seriously in order here - fabrics sorted an folded by types and colors, yard and embroidery gear separated and sorted by colors, jewelery and other crafting materials sorted and stashed away in organized fashion. I'd post pics here, but since it is in the basement and a smaller room, it is very hard to get decent shots. Trust me, it is much better than crafting in my entry way or front room... I love that I can close the door and head upstairs in the middle of a project and not have to put it all away. The second kicker was reaching my 32nd week. 32 WEEKS Pregnant?? Where has the time gone? I alternate between feeling this pregnancy is crawling by and trying to slow it down since it is probably (ok, most certainly) our last go around. But 32 weeks means it is time to get my tush (pregnancy sized tush and all) in gear.

Since Dave was out deer hunting last weekend, it was perfect time for some baby sewing. I perused the downloaded baby tutorials and patterns I've found on the web over the past few years and scoured the web for some new ones as well. Rowan and I both got our machines going and kicked out a bunch of projects. I'll save hers for a day she can "guest post". Here are some of mine...I'll be posting more in days to come.

Burp Cloths....I found a great template (and blog) here. I did not follow all the directions, mainly because I was trying to use only things I already had, but the shape and size of this burp cloth is perfect. Maybe I'll try some flannel and fringing in the future.

One side is some Tina Givens fabric and the other is a thrifted chenille bedspread. I used some tags gifted to me from my mom on the chenille side. They were quick and easy and would be a great baby shower gift.

Then, using basically the same materials, I made some bibs. These are just little infant-y bibs for early on. They are backed with the same chenille bedspread and I used velcro to close them.

I found the template online but sadly cannot locate it. I think tracing an existing bib would be easy to do as well. Since my other two are 6 & 8, we don't have many bibs (any at all) around here to trace, so a template was necessary.

Last, but not least, I made some Pacifier clips. I saw the idea on the
wonderful blog Made, and really just winged measurements to fit the suspender clips I had on hand (one of which, the red one, was still attached to some thrifted suspenders, when I discovered the tute).

I know these were extremely valuable with Rowan, so I was excited to make them from scratch. Griffin was (and still is) a thumb sucker, so while this was easier on us (can't lose a thumb) the habit is lingering and hard to break for him. I confess to having a soft spot for finding him asleep with his thumb in his mouth. Still makes me think he is a little guy... but I'm sure the dentist would not find it as endearing.

I'll do some more posting this week with the rest of our projects! Since we have more deer hunting weekends to come, I'm sure more crafting will be in the works! Gotta get prepared for little miss "namehasevadedussofar".

Recap

2010-09-30T16:34:00.000-07:00

We've had a malfunctioning laptop here - it has been back and forth between various Geek Squad locations a few times in the past month and a half, but I'm happy to say it seems at least 75% repaired. I think it is dying a slow death instead of the quick one it had suffered - but at least we have time to prepare (i.e. back up the data and save some cash to buy a new one) for the end. For now, I'm just appreciating reading crafty blogs and watching Glee on Hulu again. Hooray!

While I was out of touch cyberly, life has gone on. Not only in my house, obviously.... I have been reading pages and pages of my favorite blogs and wondering where all the time went? It seems everyone has kept up their uber crafty life while I've grown a monster size belly and read a ton of books. Humph. I can already feel a little crafty itch today - so hopefully the game is back on.

To catch up on our past few months, here are some of our somewhat recent events.

Lots of time spent at the lake...

Redecorated the antlers we inherited from the old cabin owners. Dave says he doesn't love them, but I find them much more tolerable with a little Anna Maria or Amy Butler fabric, don't you agree?

Rowan returned to school (second grade!!), while Griffin went to kindergarten for the first time.

We celebrated Griffin turning 6 with a family party at the lake - yep, the theme was dinosaurs.

In all this time, the little wee one inside my belly has grown a ton. We will hit 27 weeks on Sunday! It is both flying and crawling by.... we can't wait to meet this little one who still refuses to be named :)

Number 3

2010-08-12T10:53:00.000-07:00

I hinted a while back that we had something brewing here.... and those that see me daily are EXTREMELY aware of what it is. But, until today, we did not know much more. Now we do, so I'll loudly announce our good news....

TADA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dave and I are expecting our third beastie on January 1st... or December 31, if I have anything to say about it. And, it is official - #3 is a "she". Hooray! Well, I'm truly "hooray-ing" for toes and fingers and all the other parts being there, but it is quite fun to think baby girl again. Especially since I had not dabbled in sewing my first time around with Rowan.

Our ultrasound went fantastic today - Miss Three was kicking and squirming around quite like her oldest sibling did on her big debut 7 years back.

Rowan is thrilled to have a baby sister. Griffin, on the other hand, is not so excited about having another sister. Only after I promised him that we could ask the baby if she wanted a little boy haircut did he decide it might be ok. I'll have to make sure to be hyper diligent to ensure he does not decide to barber the baby himself.

Dave is happy, and me? I'm round and puffy and celebrated our ultrasound with a chocolate covered doughnut and some decaf rootbeer. Good times~

Hopefully now that we've reached the 1/2 point, I'll get some of my crafting groove back. I've been a bit of a vegetable of late. Lots of reading, napping and cabin-ing. The idea of little girl clothes is giving me an itch to get sewing though - so things are looking up.

Hutch redo

2010-08-01T20:24:00.000-07:00

This one has been a long time coming. First, in that I have been searching for the perfect hutch for my dining room for about 5 years. Second in that, when finally being gifted my grandma's old hutch from my Auntie Kym, it took me over a month to complete (ahem, OK, it is only 99% done) the transformation it required to live in our crazy house.

As usual, I neglected to take before pics. This picture was the closest "before" image I could find out in cyberspace that looked like my hutch. Since this baby is 2 years older than I am.... there were not many floating around. So glance quickly at this one (avoiding the hideous wallpaper that my grandma may also have had) and you'll get the general idea of what my new hutch looked like.

So, picture it then.... maple-brown, country-esque, old hutch.... then add a few coats of primer, some fire engine red spray paint (about 13 cans) and some glaze/black paint mixed together and rubbed on to "age" it. Voila - our new hutch.

Ahem... don't look too close.... I have not yet scraped the paint off the glass panes. If I had waited to post it until that was done it would have been snowing before I could share :)

A big closer...but still had to detour around the dining room table. Sorry

Did I mention all the folks that contributed to this transformation? I guess you gotta go back to the G'ma and pa for the original purchase of quality furniture - Thanks GG! And of course to my Auntie Kym... who knows I'm not one to turn down free furniture. Thanks for keeping it pristine for the past few years! A big old Thanks to Dave, my ever faithful hauling man. Your doubting looks only fire my need to prove to you vintage can be gorgeous. And not to forget my painters (and paint purchasers) - Nancy and Jake - without who this month long project would have extended into the 1/2 year project or longer. Thanks y'all!

I hope to share cabin remodel pictures soon.... maybe Mom, er, Gladys, could take some pictures for me this week? Hint hint....

fancy occasion

2010-07-21T19:22:00.000-07:00

My cousin Eric got married this past weekend. While I don't have any pictures (yet) of the handsome groom or his beautiful bride, I do have a few of the family slightly gussied up. This happens just infrequently enough that it truly is blog post worthy :)

Here are Dave and I and the kidlets.

Just the beasties on their own - acting kooky.

Last up is me and my sibs - my 2 sisters Lauren and Brianna and my brother Jake. He was trying to be funny with his mustache - it became quite the joke/contest to try to pin him down and shave the sucker off. Ack... looks like an eyebrow went wandering to me.

The wedding was fantastic. Lovely day, saw tons of family and I'm on vacation all this week! Hooray!

Red, White and Blue

2010-06-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

I love the fourth of July. While I don't consider myself overtly patriotic, I love all things about the fourth - fireworks, parades, grilling, swimming, sparklers, avoiding politicians and their crazy volunteer sticker-giver-outers, marching bands, pontoon rides, candy bags... sigh. Love it all. It is the essence of "summer" to me, and I can't wait for this year's events! We'll be at the lake again this year. I've been crafting a bit to get in the mood for the festivities. Remember the cute t-shirts we made last year? They were from a tutorial at Family Fun and involved stamping with pasta - which the kids loved. We'll be making more shirts -hopefully just as fun and creative (maybe one of these? or these flags on a shirt?)- with the kidlets this weekend... but for now I whipped up Rowan a quick skirt. Wish it were in my size...

This is made from a vintage curtain from Brooke and some scrap thrifted fabric. Rowan actually claims to love it- so we'll see if it really worn or not to the parade.

You can see it here laying on my partially finished hutch. I've yet to do the "antiquing" (or "dirtying", as I call it), but it is assembled and inside the house now.... as step up from in pieces on the garage floor!

A close up of the pocket and button.

What to do with all the assorted scraps I had in red, white and blue? Well, make banners, of course.

I plan to hang these from the porch at the lake. While the insides of our cabin are not yet done (and seem to be delayed a few more days -making for a cranky husband and some cancelled invitations - arg), the outside can still look festive.

I did not back the triangles of fabric with anything - thinking that they would "wave" more in the wind if they were not too sturdy. We'll see just how well they hold up, as I'd love to hang them out year after year!

t-shirt quilt

2010-06-27T06:29:00.000-07:00

My sister in law Jeanine asked me a few months back if I had ever made a t-shirt quilt. Her daughter Ali graduates from high school this year, and she said she saw them everywhere a few years back when her son graduated. She was hoping to surprise her daughter with one. I have seen these on various blogs and craft sites - but had been intimidated by the stretchiness of the knit t-shirts and the daunting thought of quilting. Seriously, it seemed crazy to me to take on both of these in one shot. After talking with a friend at work, who convinced me of the beauty of interfacing, I gave it a go (with promised to Jeanine that I would sure try, but could not guarantee the quality of my work). Now, I read all over the Internet that many people don't love interfacing for these quilts, but I used feather light stuff and it worked perfect for me. The finished product is still soft and "t-shirty". Best of all, the final quilt is relatively squared up and even. Without the interfacing, it would have been a wonky mess.

Jeanine snuck me a about 15 of Ali's t-shirts. Some had interesting front and backs, so I used them both. Her t-shirts were very bright and fun... and I got a little queasy when I first cut into them thinking that I'd ruin her high school memories if I wrecked this quilt. Then I thought about how many high school t-shirts I still wear or own -exactly zero - and felt a little better. I used some borrowed quilting blocks (same friend at work...thankfully, as these were golden) to measure 16.5" squares for most of the t's. For a few t-shirts that were smaller, I ended up using 12.5" blocks. To make life easier for me, I sewed all these smaller ones together and then added a border of the t-shirt scraps to make them "fit" within all the 16.5" blocks. I had to get creative with math for a few minutes, but it worked fine in the end.

Because Ali was in show choir in high school, I used some fun music note batik fabric I found on fabric.com for the backing. I ended up cutting the back 2" larger than the front, and then just folded the backing on to the front to bind the quilt. After all the time on my knees cutting, I did not have it in me to hand stitch the binding. The actual quilting was just me stitching in the ditch - clear thread on top, and black in my bobbin. The quilting was tedious with such a large quilt- it is bigger than a twin, smaller than a queen.... maybe a tween??. I had some trouble getting the bulk of rolled up quilt to fit under my sewing machine's arm.... but with minimal swears, we are done. Hooray!

I plan to give it to Ali today, so the pics are just Miss Rowan and myself trying our damnedest to get the whole bugger in a shot. Did not work perfect, but you'll get the idea. Here is the finished product.

Another of the whole quilt.... catching some of the blocks we missed above.

Here is a close up of the smaller "framed in" blocks.

This got a little blurry, but I wanted to show the batik binding.

I made another t-shirt quilt this year for my little sister who also graduated. I forgot to take pics of hers before I gave it to her, but hopefully she'll send a few so I can share.

still here....

2010-06-24T07:34:00.001-07:00

Between changing shifts at work, working on the cabin, and having guests in town for my littlest sister's graduation, we've been busy little beavers over here. The cabin is nearing completion... next week and weekend will be the hard part for us - after the contractors leave and we have to paint wall and ceilings, lay the floor, put in the toilet, paint and install the trim, install lights, and (the fun stuff) decorate and organize. Hooray! Can't wait!

I have been crafting a bit - I made 2 t-shirt quilts for graduating seniors. I have the back to add to one, and then need to find pics to post of both. I was thrilled with how easy they turned out to be!

While my aunt and brother were in town we did some painting - one living room wall as well as my bathroom vanity and walls. We also painted my grandma's old dining room hutch. None of these projects are fully complete either - so pics will have to wait for another day for these too.

So what, you may be thinking, have I actually completed? Not a whole heck of a lot. Lot's of irons in the fire... but nothing 100% done. We've got another "work in progress" around here too, but I'll share that one on another day as well :)

On that note, and with nothing concrete to share, I'll give you cute kid pics.

Griffin lost his first tooth last weekend. It was accompanied by a few tears and then a serious conversation about how much a first tooth is worth.

Griffin also enjoyed some ice cream. Very thoroughly, as you can see.

Rowan kicked back to enjoy some ice cream too. Lucky for us Auntie Lauren works for Coldstone :)

Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Cabin Work

2010-06-02T06:42:00.000-07:00

The title does not sound right.... cabin and work? Turns out we have much to do before we get to enjoy our new cabin this year. Ahem.... new to us, obviously... our cabin is many moons old, and has a few "aches and pains" associated with it's long life. We have to put in a bathroom right away - per the county (and me... not much of an outhouse girl). That means we have to add a holding tank. Since the digger was going to be out, Dave opted for a new patio too, to keep the water from pooling by the cabin. While this outside work is going on, we also have some carpenters tearing down walls, floors and ceilings and leveling things out. Our kitchen and master bedroom were thankfully already redone by my mother and step-dad a few years back, so we've just got 2 bedrooms and a living room in disrepair. My mom (who lives full time next door to the cabin) has been "Gladys Kravitz" for us during the week. She'll run over and chat with the workers, snap pictures and make design suggestions. Here are some shots she took for us.

(Photo credits to Gladys, er, Kim.)

This is the outside from the back. I'm calling this the "before", even though it is after the yard was dug up.

Here is our new patio... hooray! Dave has to do the retaining wall around it this weekend, but by the time we get up on Friday, we should be able to do some al fresco dining!

The inside shots are crazy - this is after all the walls and ceilings were torn out. We are going to get rid of the rickety ceiling beams beams and make the guest room have a vaulted ceiling! We were thrilled when we found this was an option.

We are also discovering old windows behind the walls - where the old cabin was added on to. This is soon to be 1/2 bathroom, 1/2 storage closet. Hooray for a toilet!

So what to do while the inside is in disrepair? Enjoy the outside! Here are some pictures from the past few weekends at the lake.

Griffin and his cousin Oliver got 4 wheelers to zoom around on. Obviously they love them.

Lots of lake swimming going on.

Gotta love the slip and slide :)

A few more weeks of chaos to come and then we'll be able to enjoy things up there even more!

Last day of preschool

2010-05-25T14:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was G's last day of pre-school. He has grown up so much in just 8 months - I got a little choked up. He IS my baby, after all, despite his advanced age of 5 years. :)

Here he is - all grins - on his last day.

He is standing next to his "girlfriend" Hailey here (I did not want to post her without permission, so I only left her arm and an ear.) He is quite enamored, telling everyone who will listen about her long hair and beautiful face. See his sneaky sideways glance?

For teacher gifts, I quickly made up some stamped washer necklaces. I remembered that I had the perfect thrifted tins to put them in too. Somewhat sadly, I forgot to take any pictures of them outside the tins - and then they were sealed inside and I was too lazy to take them out and start over. I'm guessing you all get the drift, as you maybe saw them here a few weeks back.

For ease, I kept them the same for all 4 teachers - just stamped Inspire on them and added a silver bead. They are on black cord and have a cute clasp in back.

Birthday tote

2010-05-13T05:45:00.000-07:00

A mere month late, I finished up a tote bag for my friend Shari's birthday. She chose the fabrics - love these Tina Givens prints - and I used the Classic Tote tutorial (yes, again). Since the fabric was quilting cotton, I ended up making a corduroy lining to make it better hold it's shape. I also attached the straps between the layers instead of sewing them on top. It is quite big - but I'm sure Miss Q has lots of gear for her mama to tote around.

A peek at the interior and pocket.

And of course it needed a flower pin - which can be removed if need be.

Did I mention Shari is the mama of the cutie I made these dresses for? Check out little Miss Q in her ensembles! This is the best part of sewing - seeing the finished products worn and loved!

Stamped Washer Necklaces

2010-05-11T15:22:00.000-07:00

I simply could not work up my sewing mojo to craft Mother's Day gifts this year. With a mother, step-mom, mother in law, grandma and 2 step-grandmas, it can be a bit daunting to think up crafting ideas... and then get them complete in time for Mother's Day. Lucky for me, I saw an adorable washer necklace idea - (saw it here, post was from here) a bit back and had ordered the letter stamp kit from here. It arrived Thursday, just in time for some midnight crafting. After a bit more googling, I discovered that the stamping of washers is old hat to many of the crafty bloggers out there - but it was new to me and fit the bill for Mother's day gifts for a crowd.

Thursday night, I made my way to the furnace room in the basement where we have cement floor and pounded the letters onto the washers with a hammer. Rowan was my wing-man - handing me the letters as I called them out to her. After a bit of experimenting, I ended up painting the washers with black acrylic paint, wiping the excess off, and sealing the washers with a metal primer. I tried using a sharpie like the tutorials called for to highlight the letters, but could not get all the marker off. I like how the paint stuck both in the letters and on the washers and aged them a bit. I scavenged the craft buckets for some ribbon and beads - and snapped a few shots of the results.

Here is my mom's, with the grand baby initials and her name "Gouma".

For Dave's mom.

After I was done, I realized I loved the washers and stamping but not the cording I had used on them. I ended up running to Joann's on Friday afternoon and picked up some clasps and black cord. I replaced all the cording like the one below (for BL, but she hasn't seen it yet) just in time for gifting on Sunday.

I love how they turned out for the moms.... so had to make my own too (yep, selfish). Wouldn't these be great teacher gifts? Griffin's last day is Monday, so I think I'll be heading down to spend more time with the furnace again soon :)

selfish sewing - PJ pants

2010-04-17T06:50:00.000-07:00

This starts out as a selfless story, it really does. A friend of mine is diabetic and has a insulin pump. She had requested a pair of pj pants with a pocket up front and center, so that her pump doesn't flail around during the night as she sleeps. Easy, breezy, right? So while making Dave's birthday pj pants, I cut out fabric, er, thrifted sheets, to make a pair for her, and a coordinating pocket as well. This is where the selfish part starts. I then quickly cut out myself a pair from another thrifted sheet. Who can't use another pair of pjs? I basically live in these year round. I further convinced myself these were necessary by thinking about how I was repurposing fabric and not destroying the planet in the making of these pants. I get elaborate in ways to alleviate my guilt.

I decided to make a pocket on my pair too, edged it in thrifted lace,and placed it on the leg seam. These are the Pajamas for Everyone patter from Heather Ross's Weekend Sewing book. I serged my seams, and cut about 6" off the bottom, as these come out long, and I am not. They are super comfy and have already become a personal favorite.

See the cute pocket? I haven't decided what will go in it yet, but it is fun.

So where is my friend's pair, I am sure you are thinking? Well, not quite done yet. I'm waiting to hear back what her inseam is so I know how long to make them. That may be why I feel especially selfish. I've worn mine a few nights already and hers are still in the sewing pile. In case she stops by to visit the blog, I promise they are almost done Becky - just let me know how long to make them!

girl weekend

2010-04-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

The term 'girl weekend' takes on new connotations when you have a daughter. So while I did not spend a wild weekend out with my gal pals (though that sounds fun too), I did spend a great weekend with Miss Rowan. Dave and Griffin headed north to install our new dock up at the lake. So what did we girlies do? Girl stuff...

Refashioned a thrifted Taylor Swift t-shirt into a tunic for Rowan...

I like the criss-crossed straps in back.

Made bean bags from thrifted quilt squares- tag team style. I sewed, she stuffed. These are really to be used as pattern weights for me, but Rowan has been carrying a few around in her purse all weekend.

Rowan went to a birthday party for a classmate and I visited 3 thift stores. Found all sorts of treasures, but did not take pictures. It is mostly all in the wash, and I'm too lazy to try to photograph it now.... take my word for it, it was a good haul. Vintage sheets, cashmere sweaters and lots of fabric...to name a few goodies.

We visited a gargantuan fabric outlet to find fabric for my friend Rayna's dance costume (this is last years ensemble). While I was busy squirreling away elastic and ribbon, Rowan eyed the pink polka dot minky fabric. Well, since everything is 50% off what it is marked, and it felt like we were getting a deal, she ended up with a yard to take home. We used some thrifted pink fabric for the back side and whipped up the quickest blanket ever. Complete with Dabbler tag.

Did I mention Miss Rowan demanded a hair cut too? And notice she is wearing the blanket minky side in? Super soft...

Last night, we feasted on Chipotle for dinner (Dave doesn't love it, so we "save" it for when he is gone) and had leftover cheesecake for dessert. Rowan watched "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" while I started stitching some dishtowels. I bought 2 yards of cotton "huck" and made my own towels. The long edges are already finished, so they only needed a quick hem at either end and they were ready to be embroidered. So far, I love them more than flour sack towels. These are more sturdy and hide the thread better so you don't see through it to the back side as much.

To finish things off, I ate some more cheesecake right before bed, and first thing this morning. I need to get this dang cake OUT of my house! Obviously I'm working on it diligently, despite it being Dave's cake. All in all, a great weekend :)

homemade birthday

2010-04-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Poor Dave - sometimes I feel he gets the short end of the stick when it comes to Birthdays and other gift giving holidays. While I am sure to provide him with a detailed shopping list of what to get me on these occasions, he invariably gets homemade things. Yes - I like to make gifts, and like for the kidlets to do the same, but the real reasons I make him gifts are because we share a bank account and it is really not easy to surprise him with something when he can see how much is spent and where, just with a click of the mouse. Also, I am not really equipped (ahem, interested) to get him music/band, snowmobile or fishing equipment....nor do I want to be. These are things he likes to research and get on his own - so I let him do it solo. Works for us!

So, then, what to gift the man that has what he needs when he turned 36 yesterday? The kids and I decided we would each think up an idea and make it (read: mom would mostly make it) for him. Griffin went through my fabric stash and found a thrifted dinosaur sheet we've been saving up for something. He decided that Dave needed to have dinosaur pajama pants like his made from it. So be it. I pulled out Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross and made up a pair using the Pajamas for Everyone pattern. They went together very fast - and were super easy. They ended up fitting pretty well - a little tighter in the hips that he is used to - but they look cute on him - a little nerdy because he is wearing dinosaurs - but melt your heart daddy cute for sure. As for the sewing up, next time I'd maybe add a 1/2 inch or so to the hip and waist parts to give him a little more room. Griffin did not do any of the actual sewing, but he did pick up the strings and scraps for me as I sewed... that and his inspiration count as making them, right? He also authored one of his famous dinosaur books for his dad - complete with pages upon pages of stick figure dinosaurs stomping around the forests.

I chopped his head off here because he was doing silly faces and poses while I tried to get a shot of him in the pjs to blog about. Typical...

Rowan decided to draw a picture and we'd use freezer paper to stencil on a t-shirt. She designed a Rock Star shirt for her dad - complete with guitar. She drew and painted, while I cut out the stencil and ironed it on. I love her artwork.

Here is a closer shot of her design...I love that the "a" in star is an actual star.

Besides a purchased ceramic travel mug (and a new dock for the lake, that he himself bought) I could not think of anything to gift Dave - so I decided to at least make him a cheesecake. He loves cheesecake, and I'm not really a fan, so I thought it would be perfect to make just for him. Well, let me quantify that by stating I'm not normally a fan. Turns out I do like homemade Butterfinger Cheesecake (I used this recipe with a plain graham cracker crust).... probably because it is uber fattening and delicious. It is the first time I've made cheesecake. So far Dave has eaten one piece - declared it great - and decided to save the rest for enjoying after dinner this coming week. I've eaten 4 pieces and gone into the fridge with a fork about 10 times just while writing this post. Grrr..... how can he not want to finish the entire pan full?? It is just not right.

Happy Birthday Dave! We love ya!

flower corsage mania

2010-04-02T13:26:00.001-07:00

This has become addicting. I keep making more. They are fast, easy and keep me busy on long car rides to the lake. Here are some corsage flowers on a headband...

In my(gray) hair...

A couple corsages from a striped scraps and tulle.

Another one - from black shiny fabric and some tulle and some window screen (yes, leftover from the totes).

Here is the black one on a bobby pin in my sisters hair.

A lacey one with a mother of pearl button.

And this one attached to my mom's headband.

I'm trying to stop...but I keep thinking up more variations...so fun.

Spring Top from a scarf

2010-03-31T18:40:00.000-07:00

I admit I'm one of the people who got giddy when Liberty of London hit Target. I may have splurged and purchased the rain boots for Rowan, and my printed sewing tutorials are now housed in a Liberty of London 3 ring binder. I confess- I'm a bit obsessed. I carted the adorable watering can all over the store for about an hour, before I reluctantly put it back, realizing I did not NEED it at all. *SIGH*. One thing I decided I did need was the scrappy scarf. Here is the photo from Target's website. Isn't it cute?

Sadly, when you are 5'2", the scrappy scarf is really too dang long. It was just too puffy and lengthy for me to pull off... so I started thinking - what else could I do with it? Knowing that Made by Rae's Spring Top week was kicking off, I decided I'd use it to make a top of some kind. And yes - for those like my husband who need to point out the obvious - Target has actual Liberty of London shirts, in these exact fabrics, that I could have purchased, but where is the fun in that?

For my spring top, I decided to copy a shirt that I've had in my closet for over 10 years...and make my own version from the scarf. The inspiration shirt is too cropped to wear these days, but I can't get myself to throw it out. I traced the shirt, added a few inches in length and gave it a more a-line shape at the bottom. After 2 trials, both in thrifted fabrics, I was ready to cut into my scarf. Here is the finished product - my Liberty of London scrappy scarf shirt.

Yes - heads have been chopped to protect the bed-headed. Trust me - this is for your benefit.

Here it is on a wonky hanger....

I lined the top portion, and added thrifted buttons down the back - none really matching, but all white/clear.

I love it - can't wait to wear it with capris when it warms up a smidge more. A sun tan and better arm definition would make me love these pics more ... but for that I'll need the warmer weather and a personal trainer. The last 2 shots are mirror ones - as the 7 year old was at school taking her spelling test when I finished the shirt, and the 5 year old was too busy drawing dinosaurs to help Mommy take a picture.

I'm liking it best with a cardigan until it warms up more...

Window Screen totes & a playdate

2010-03-31T18:17:00.000-07:00

Brooke and I had a little play date today for 4 of the 5 combined beasties. Griffin wanted to bring some dinosaurs along (imagine that) and asked for a new bag to carry them in. Since the sewing machine was already out this morning, I was game. Last night, I had rummaged through my fabric stash for an unrelated project, and upturned the old window screen I scavenged from my mother's garage last fall. It was destiny, I guess, as I've been meaning to make a bag from recycled window screen - ala Soule Mama's Treasure Bag in her Handmade Home book. This is the perfect bag for hauling summer toys - allowing me to shake off the dirt prior to hauling it into my car.

I made Griffin a giant tote from the screen, and while I sewed, Rowan made up her own bag (pinning and ironing done by yours truly, everything else by Miss Row). She even did her first french seams... at 7 years old! I was closer to 30 when I tacked my first ones. I had just enough screen left over to make a mini-dino tote for Cashen... here are the three totes.

I think Cash and Griffin would fit in G's monster size one...check out our bare feet in MARCH in Minnesota! It was beautiful today.

While gabbing and drinking coffee, Brooke and I whipped out the felt and sewing needles. I made Miss V her own felt watch, while BL made felt flower headbands for the girlies. Productive and relaxing? Where are our supermama capes?

I neglected to capture any truly cute kid pics - but they were great today - all 4 of them. Thanks BL for the lovely sunny play date! The kids had a blast and I had some much needed mama time too!

Leftover scraps...

2010-03-21T05:35:00.000-07:00

Remember back when I hinted that I may have made something else from the leftover scraps from Q's dresses? After sewing up the dress, I had this leftover.

These colors worked well with a peach colored t-shirt I had picked up for Rowan a few months back on the clearance rack at Target. (I bought 3 of these for $1.74 each). We snipped out a few circles, layered them in piles of 3, stitched them on with some embroidery floss, and Voila! An embellished t-shirt.

Why stop there? We had a few leftover circles, so I stitched them to a rubber band and added a button. It can be used for ponytails....

Or wrapped around a headband.

Someone is quite pleased with her ensemble... especially since it matched this skirt so well.

Jewelry Frame

2010-03-20T08:30:00.000-07:00

I made this up last week, but just gifted it Friday. What to give to a friend celebrating a birthday who already has custom dabbler-made totes (2 or 3 now) apron and lingerie bag? I went for a "no sew" project and concocted an Jewelry Frame. I have seen these in various forms on different blogs. I read through how everyone made them and came up with my own hodge podge method. As usual :)

Here is the frame for Jen, pictured with some of my baubles (so you'd see how it should/would look):

I used an old frame, painted and sanded it a bit, and then covered it with a glaze. Next up I added the hooks to the bottom for necklaces, and the "eyes" to the top to hold the ribbon. I attached the old window screen to the frame with my trusty glue gun. I'd rather have stapled it in, but my stapler would not fit in the groove where the screen fit here. I think the glue will hold fine - there is enough of it to build a small planet. Last up I added the ribbon to the top and the small ribbon flower to the corner. Voila - perfect for hanging earrings on the screen and necklaces from the bottom.

I think more of these are on our horizon. Both Rowan and I have messy jewelry piles that would benefit from a pretty organization method like this.

Repurposed T-Shirt Dresses for Q

2010-03-16T15:04:00.000-07:00

A long while back, (early November) my friend Shari pointed me to the Sienna Dress pattern on the Lil Boo Blue blog. I had to agree with her, it is adorable. I almost immediately bought the pattern and made up a version for Rowan. Only a mere 5 months later, I finally got around to making a few for Shari's little Miss Q. While I liked making Rowan's, making them in a mini little size is so much faster and easier. Plus I learned from the first go around - I starched the heck out of the t-shirts prior to cutting and sewing. They were much more even, matched up perfectly and were easier to sew. My serger is feeling icky, so these were made with no seam finishing. Knit doesn't really need it, and I was busy concentrating more on the cuteness factor. I used some of Q's shirts, as well as her mom's, and a few from our stash here. Hopefully the wee one will think they are as cute as I do!

First up is Love Bird pink one. The applique was from one of Miss Q's shirts, and too stinkin adorable not to use. The red/orange shirt and the strawberry ones are from her outgrown clothes as well.

I was able to reuse the tag from the love bird shirt to decorate it a bit.

The other version is a bit more "fall-esque", and I love it. For reals, I think I would wear it if I could build it in my own size. The serged edged shirt is so fun - and I love these colors together.

I added a reverse applique "Q" on here, and reused a tag from a stash shirt to decorate it a bit more.

I packaged these up to bring to Shari, and then decided to use a bit more of the scraps for matching hair accessories. (I used some more scraps a little later too, but that is a post for another day :))

The leftover black ruffle is attached to a rubber band with a button, and the headband is a piece of the smocking from the strawberry shirt. Can't wait to see photos of Miss Q in her finery :)

Dinoland Suitcase

2010-03-10T08:53:00.001-08:00

After seeing the Dinoland Suitcase entry to So You Think Your Crafty last week, Griffin requested one of his own. He did not want to wait and see if Kalleen won and we could use a real tutorial (which she later did, win, that is, and well deservedly ), he demanded we start IMMEDIATELY. I grabbed an old suitcase and few cans of spray foam insulation and started to craft. After 2 days of waiting for the foam mountains to dry, Kalleen won and posted her tutorial. That was when I realized she had actual structure under her foam. OHHHHHHH.... that sure is smart :) With this in mind, I was able to use the foam cap on the top of my volcano hill and finally get it to hold a peak. We deviated a bit more from the tutorial by using some plastic primer since I need the paint to adhere well to this plastic suitcase. This baby is destined to be a crowd favorite. It is so dang cute.

After a night of waiting for the brown background paint to dry, we finally painted the details today (grass, lake, volcano, etc), added a layer of sealer and glued in the plants. Griffin requested a waterfall, as well as a jungle. It is just waiting to be fully dry - but we could not resist posting about it now.

I have no shots of it closed up, since the paint is a bit tacky still here, but it does close up, storing a ton of dinos inside. My paint job is not as nice as the inspiration, but it sure makes the 5 year old happy :)

Griffin is lining up the critters, waiting for the sealer to dry before they can visit their new home. He is bouncing off the walls he is so excited.

thrifted words of wisdom

2010-03-04T14:56:00.000-08:00

While perusing my pics of thrifted goodies, I've noticed a trend. Seems to be a theme -with words decorating my thrifted treasures.

For example, which scouting out a green shirt for Miss Rowan to wear for St. Patrick's Day, I came upon this goodie - very reminiscent of things my own mother used to say, er, threaten.

Too cute - now I want to embroider happy face onions on a bunch of dishtowels and add the same saying. Rowan loves it - and gets the joke :)

On the same thrifing trip, I quickly picked up this trivet because of the yellow colors and the owl, but I took it home because of the saying. This is so my Grandma.

Last, but possibly the best, I discovered this odd shaped cloth hanging with the vintage doilies and linens. At first, all I saw was a corner of the embroidery - an adorable butterfly. I wanted it - right then and there- but could not figure out what it was actually supposed to be - a curtain? doily? teapot cozy? Oh wait - then I read it....duh. It is a tablecloth. Ha!

Fits on my antique sewing machine perfectly, huh? Love it!

Vintage Swap Goodies

2010-03-02T15:27:00.001-08:00

I just heard from Louana that she received her package from me - so it is safe to blog about our swap now! If you remember, I participated in the last Vintage Swap - and am just as thrilled with this round. Not only is the swap itself a reminder to visit the blogroll of amazing blogs on the site, it is a chance to get to know your partners and "visit" their lives a bit, albeit electronically. It is fun to think of others when you thrift - and hope you are "reading" them correctly!

This time, I was paired with Louana. She sent me an amazing package all the way from New Zealand. The doilies are AMAZING (yes, I have amazing on the brain)... I have them all over the house and smile when I see the. She also sent on a great piece of fabric, a fantastic retro apron and some lovely vintage linens. Love them all! Louana included NZ pencils for the kidlets - which the 7 year old promptly brought to school to "show and tell" all about our swap :) Here are my treasures:

Lucky me, huh? I LOVE my new apron. Wore it tonight while stir frying up some veggies and am feeling very June Cleaver-y.

The apron quickly was hung on my apron tree, front and center where I can see it.

For my package to Louana, I sent off some embroidered runners, some vintage fabric, a child's apron, a little bag of mother of pearl buttons and sewing notions - patches, ribbon, etc.

Here is a close up of the buttons. Ack - my hand looks huge here! Ack...

Another lovely round of swapping! Many thanks again to Heather for supreme organization, and Louana for a fantastic swapping adventure!

Book Deconstruction Crafting

2010-03-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

Like so many crafty bloggers, I have been following So You Think Your Crafty both sessions now - and am awed by the talent and ability of the crafters involved. When I saw this de-constructed book Birdhouse, er Bookhouse a few weeks back, I fell in love. Birds AND books? What is not to love? I decided to make one with an old book I found at the cabin... a 1956 Reader's Digest volume. I don't love abridged versions of books, so I barely cringed as I was tearing the pages out. I used Sarah's Lovebird Birdhouse tutorial and whipped up my own birdhouse in less than an hour. My book was so old and damaged, the cover over the binding needed to be re glued on after tearing the pages out. (This helped negate any lingering book-destroying guilt I had left).

I plan to make a fabric bird to live here, but glued this little wood bird on the perch for meantime.

I had leftover "hearts" from making the interior of the bird house. I glued them together in a pillar, tied them with a bow, and VOILA -a cute book page column. Oh - and it is perched on a vintage doily from my Vintage Swap partner, btw. Cute, huh? I'll be posting the rest of my goodies after my package is received.

The column-y, pillar-y thing went together so fast and easy - almost too fast, as I neglected to ensure that the pages were oriented the same way. Some are upside down, but I'm going with that adding to the charm :) Anyone think of a good name for this thing?

weekend dabbling...

2010-02-21T19:40:00.000-08:00

I managed to do a crafting hat trick +2 this weekend - knit, crochet, paper piece some hexes, embroider and sew. No major projects were accomplished, but I happily dabbled a bit here and there. I won't bore you with my knitted and crocheted wash cloths (only because they are already in use), but of course I'll share the other endeavors with you!

The knitting, crocheting and paper piecing are all part of my goal of having a project bag handy when I am out and about. I seem to have these random hours where I am waiting for a child - be it volleyball, religion classes, doctor appointments, whatever. For this hour, I would sit and think "Ack - wish I could get some crafting done!". Though I usually have my kindle to read, it does not feel very productive. I finally gathered the proper materials together and have myself a "to go" bag for crafting. I threw in some yarn, knitting needles and a crochet hook, some embroidery floss, a hoop, needles, marking pen, and some dishtowels, as well as a kit to do some hexagon paper piecing. This post set me up - explaining not only HOW to do the hexagons, but what to bring along to do it on the go. Here is my first hexagon flower (OK, honestly it is my second, the first failed miserably, and is not fit for photography) - destined to be a pillow embellishment someday:

Friday night I also did some quick sewing. Quick is the operative word here. I took the Dinosaur top sheet I thrifted earlier this week and made a quick blanket. Quick meaning I faced a vintage bedspread to the right side of the sheet, sewed along the edges leaving a small gap, flipped it right side out and top stitched it closed. Super quick. Now, along with the matching thrifted duvet, Griffin has matching blankets on his bunks (mind you, for $7).

Finally, today, the beasties and I made cute felt watches, inspired by this post. Mine are not nearly as precise and pretty as the inspirations, but surprisingly, the kids love them ALOT. I'm not saying surprising because they are not wonderful, but surprising because the kids rarely LOVE things I make them. They may like them, or tolerate them, but they rarely love them so much they will not take them off at bedtime. I made Rowan's watch from craft felt, but it felt rather flimsy. I decided to make Griffin's from wool felt... and his feels so much more sturdy. We may have to re-do Rowan's if she continues to wear it. They are closed with Velcro, and are accurate exactly 2 times a day.

Griffin says it is "Eighty ninety o'clock".

Rowan chose her own felt colors and asked for her watch to be 7 0'clock since that is when she wakes up.

I've may have a messy house, and laundry mountain is quickly approaching eruption, but my creative spirit is much appeased.

I did it again....

2010-02-18T18:51:00.001-08:00

No, not sing another Britney song, but I made another Schoolhouse tunic. Well, another Schoolhouse Shirt. I know I just made one two posts ago, but now that I had the pattern all traced, this one was even easier-breezier than the first time. I wanted to make one more rendition in thrifted fabric before I contemplated purchasing some "real" fabric to make a nice (read: spendy) shirt. Here is Schoolhouse Tunic number 2...

I tried this one in an even lighter/flowy-er (probably not a real word, sorry) thrifted fabric than last time. It is pretty sheer, and required a tank underneath... but it still sewed together quick and easy. I don't LOVE this fabric, but it was good for a second trial, and I will wear it for certain. Well, actually I did wear it to work today, so there. It proved it's worth already. Score one for thrifted fabric that just slightly resembles the material they make hospital scrubs from.

As for modifications, this time I ended up creating a cuff-type sleeve, since I like it rolled up anyways. Obviously, I did it shirt length again. This was more due to the amount of fabric I had on hand, I rather think I'd like the dress better in this drapey-er (yes, I know, definitely not a word) material. I really REALLY wanted to add ruffles like this adorable tutorial, but when I pinned them on, I realized I'm not much of a ruffle girl. Huh, who knew? Maybe the complete lack of ruffles in my wardrobe until this point may have hinted at this, but I still found it surprising. Then I added the buttons to the placket that I had pondered last time. And, as you may notice, I removed them, as they were distracting and ugly. Last, I tried wearing it with a belt, and it looked like I was with child. Since I am not (well, not with one on the inside, just 2 on the outside), and because this was not a look I was aiming for, the belt was ditched as well. Here it is on...

A close up of the cuffed sleeve.

Griffin wanted to be part of the shoot too... he is wearing his "Daddy coat" and showing you how a T-Rex looks. Scary, huh? Luckily, my photographer Rowan is the consummate professional and not easily cowed!

Thrifty Wednesday

2010-02-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

It seems I should have a reoccurring theme post of Thrifty Mondays and/or Wednesdays. Since Griffin goes to pre-school these days, we have the mornings to go on our thrift store adventures. I'm not (too) ashamed to admit he is easily convinced to behave with a small bribe of a dinosaur book. Hey, it is a book, not toys or candy! While I feel I may be spending more on thrifting, my overall budget is soundly in the black. I don't think I've bought any new NEW clothes for the beasties since school started in September because I've been able to find clothes for the here and there, picking things up bit by bit...sometimes hitting the mother load, other times walking out with nothing. I am thrilled with how much repurposing and recycling we've done the past few months. Yes - make fun of the (wanna be) green girl, but I'm trying to not buy things we don't need, and for what we do, to get as much of it second hand as possible. You would not believe (unless you are a thrift store junkie, like me) the treasures you can find. For reals.

Anyhoo...I'm getting close to the deadline of the Vintage Swap, so I wanted to do one quick run today to find a few more things for my partner. Well, it is not THAT close to the deadline of March 1st, but my partner is in New Zealand, and I'm guessing it may take a while for the package to ship.

See all the thrifted goodness we found? The suitcase, the lamp, all the sheets, the pillowcases- Hooray! Selfishly, most of the things are for me, er, us, but some my be swapping material. Maybe :) Or maybe I just did not photograph the things I'll be sending off.... (tricky, oh yes I am).

Truly, I have already gone through my stash of thrifted and garage sale-ed goodness and found some lovelies to be shipped overseas. Most of the items pictured above are not going to be included, but the Swap was the stimulus for today's venture out. That is my story, anyways, and I'm sticking to it. I'll post the swap goodies AFTER my partner has received her package, which I'm shooting to have in the mail Friday.

I'll confess to one thing that most definitely will remain with me. The olive green sheet set on the left hand side - top and bottom sheets and both pillow cases - is perfect for the cabin. We have full size beds there and I don't have a stash of sheets at home in this size to borrow from. It also exactly matches these pj pants of mine- so I'll coordinate well while I sleep!

I found 5 yards of some amazing vintage ribbon - I'm sure Rowan (and maybe me as well) will sport new headbands from this very soon.

Griffin was thrilled when we found a Pottery Barn dinosaur duvet and sheets. $7 for everything - and they are in great shape. He was most happy that the dinosaurs were not "baby dinosaurs" - he hates when they have smiley faces.

I've got everything (well, not the lamp or suitcase, but everything else) in the wash - and am now being asked to read a new dinosaur book. I'm off to determine How Dinosaurs Get Well Soon. Bye Bye...

Schoolhouse Tunic

2010-02-14T16:42:00.000-08:00

I have been known to peruse the Sew Liberated flickr pool a bit- and each time I saw another Schoolhouse Tunic added to the mix, I got antsier and antsier to try one of my own. Meg's Emmeline Apron was the first pattern I bought, a couple years back now, when I decided to try to sew something beyond curtains and hems. That pattern was so wonderful (easy to follow, adorable, flattering, etc) that I made them for 6 moms one Mother's Day. This past summer, I made the Woodlands Shirt for Rowan, which was just as easy to follow and detailed. The Schoolhouse Tunic did not disappoint. Here is my new shirt!

I used this thrifted fabric for a bunch of reasons:

cost - at $3.99 for 8 yards, if I screwed up, I would not be out really anything at all
drape - the fabric is fairly thin, though not see through, and seemed to be the right drape for this shirt.
kitsch and cuteness - OK, I'm a vintage junkie and I knew I'd be more apt to wear this if it were fun. I love this print. Maybe a little busy, but I love it!

My sister agreed to model for me, luckily. I was still in my sweat pants and had bed head, so her modeling seemed the better option for us all. The shirt went together fast - the toughest part was tracing out my size. Since we are staying at my mother's house this weekend, I did not have all my equipment with (tracing wheel, freezer paper, etc). I ended up taping the pattern to the sliding glass door and tracing it out onto tissue paper. Not fast, but effective! I was also without my rotary cutter and mat, so I relied on pinning and shears - which took longer than I'm used to as well. I realized that while I don't need all the sewing accessories and tools I've amassed over the past 2 years, they sure make things go faster. I did have, mind you, my mothers trusty Husqvarna, (sister to my own) so the sewing itself was just dandy. Meg's directions were fantastic - and just when I would not quite get it, there would be a drawing to help me understand. It took less than an hour for the actual sewing itself - and I only had to rip out one seam (crooked hem - all my bad, not the fault of the pattern).

Here is me trying to show (somewhat unsuccessfully) how I sewed down the pleat.

I opted for making this shirt length - I actually made it at the tunic length first and just did not love it on me. So I hemmed it up and found it more flattering on me as a shirt. Because I did not follow directions and use the correct seam allowances, it was just a little roomier than I wanted it -but I was able to take it in a bit up either side (probably to where the seam allowances published would have been) and it fits perfect now. I sewed down the 2 pleats in front - so they did not billow out as much. I also hand sewed the placket together about 1/2 way up, since I knew I would want to wear this without having to wear something underneath. Last, I left out the elastic casing for the sleeves, mainly because I thought it would be more comfortable without it.

I'll be making more of these, that is guaranteed. I had to stop myself from adding my mismatched vintage buttons up the placket of this one. Wouldn't that be cute with elastic thread loops on the other side as a closure? This fabric was busy enough... but I think on a more neutral fabric they would be fabulous. I also debated adding belt loops and a belt - maybe I'd like the tunic with a belt? Oh - the possibilities!

Birthday Shirt

2010-02-14T15:57:00.000-08:00

My niece turned 11 last week. Ack - 11! How did she get so dang old? I distinctly remember (eleven years ago, I guess) calling Dave (who'd I had only been dating for 2 months or so, but I already knew was "the one") and asking him to run to my rented townhouse and grab me a change of clothes so I could stay with Brianna while she labored. Turned out I did not need a change of clothes. About 45 minutes after my sister's water broke, and 25 minutes after arriving at the hospital, Chloe Jane made her grand entrance. This may have been the first and last time Miss Dawdle Pants was in a hurry to do anything! Here she is at 2 (?) - dang cute, huh?

Trying to come up with a creative 11th birthday shirt (in the spirit of those I love on this blog) was more difficult than I imagined. Tally marks? Too many to make (i.e. I'm too lazy). Roman Numerals? "XI" looked a smidge too much like "XL" for me to put on the outside of a piece of clothes. Spelling "eleven"? Hmmm... fine, but a bit boring. Then I happened upon a fun bit of trivia. Turns out Chloe and Google are both 11 this year - Google celebrated by changing their logo to "Goog11e" for the day... with the l replaced by an 11. Aha! Worked for me...

Here is the birthday girl in her festive shirt...

Here is a close up of the applique. I printed out her name, traced it on Wonder Under, ironed it to the fabric (Tina Givens - love it), cut them out with my trusty embroidery scissors, ironed them to the shirt and then did a quick stitch right inside the letters. It should fray a bit after a washing - which she says will make it better. Huh - who knew my laziness would be to her liking?

Happy Birthday Chloe - we love ya!

I'm back... and with embellished Tshirts!

2010-02-11T14:03:00.001-08:00

It has been a long, forced hiatus. I had a small incident with a Ginsu knife, a carrot and the tip of my thumb. The bad news? Well, it is twofold. First, any life of crime I may have aspired to is abruptly over, as I now have a very distinct thumb print and evading arrest may prove difficult. Second, (and more expensively)I have been medicating myself with books & reading while on my sewing diet. As I bragged before, I got a Kindle for Christmas and have found it to be a bit addicting. Addicting enough that I have made some midnight purchases to keep up the momentum of a good series (Lois Gremain people - she rocks! She may have inspired the life of crime bit up above). Addicting enough that I am now having to sew to get over my Kindle addiction. Ha. Round and round....Oh, The good news? I'm all better. And I can sew again!
Last night I embellished a couple t-shirts. Just some quick projects to get be back on the horse... and easy, but so very rewarding! I love how they both turned out.

This shirt was thrifted - I picked it up for $2.99. It is a nice quality knit - fairly thick and like new. I cut up small pieces of other knit shirts and made reverse applique leaves all over the neck and side. It is as easy as drawing the shape on the front, pinning the other fabric behind, sewing over your lines and then cutting out your shape. So easy - the only hard part was how repetitive it was... more tedious than difficult. I used a jersey needle - and wow, wouldn't you know, it sure makes a difference.

I LOVE it.. really do. The leaves are pretty. I think it may be appropriate for Valentines day, no?

The second shirt was inspired by this remake of an Anthro tshirt. I have a small stash of t-shirts I find on Target clearance racks - this one was $3.24. It is a size bigger than I normally would like, but it is nice and long - and not too clingy. I traced the neckline on some Wonder Under, laid out the Amy Butler Lotus fabric that I drool over and covet, and cut out the parts of the fabric I wanted to line the neck. Last, I (quickly) pieced them together on the shirt, ironed the appliques in place, and then stitched around them using a stretch stitch.

Easy, peasy. And much more dressed up than the original, boring t-shirt. Excuse the lack of an iron. It was 11 pm when this was done.

Here is the neck up close.

Rowan would like a version of the leaf shirt for her Valentines Day party tomorrow, so I'm going to use some of the same scraps and see what I come up with! So SO glad to be back in the game~

Reversible Kids apron

2010-01-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

Rowan was at it again... or more correctly, we both were. I'd call it a joint effort, but with the majority of the grunt work being done by the 7 year old. With me cutting and pinning, and Rowan doing all the stitching and decision making, we concocted an apron. Dynamic duo that we are and all... Tada!

Did I mention it is reversible?

As you probably noticed, she is quite proud of her creation. Especially of the custom pocket design she came up with.

The fabric was a gift to Rowan from Auntie Nancy for Christmas, and she used her new machine as well. I found the tutorial here and it was wonderfully easy and quick. We planned on doing the chef's hat as well, but ran out of fabric. I'm not sure it would have been worn much, but it is sure cute. We'll keep it in the "maybe" list for now.

We may only be posting Rowan's creations for the near future. I'm on a forced hiatus from sewing - I lobbed off a portion of my thumb this weekend while cutting carrots. Ack. I'm not able to operate the presser foot lifter thingy and I keep getting the gauze from the bandage gets caught under the foot itself. Tried embroidering, and that did not work... same for knitting and crocheting. Who knew that opposable thumb was so important? Well, besides thousands of scientist and all. Guess that means I'll have more time for thrifting! Hooray, just in time for the second Vintage Swap! Gotta get my thrift on...

Fabric Dollhouse...er...Hamster House

2010-01-20T13:19:00.000-08:00

Rowan, my 7 year old, got a hamster back in October for her birthday. Not a real hamster, thankfully, or I would have had to put the hurt on my own mother. It is one of the little battery operated ones... just freakishly real enough looking to cause me to do a double take when I vacuum her room.

I found out that these hamsters must also now be outfitted and housed, or else a certain 7 year old will mope and fuss dramatically. Instead of further funding the bank accounts of the hamster creators, I decided that I should make the accessories needed by "Snowball". This was not an original idea, btw, I saw Bridget's post about making houses for hamsters a while back and knew I'd be coming back to her blog to find the tutorial at a later date. Happy me, to find that the tutorial author (Dawn - who has a great blog herself) also included her Fabric Dollhouse in the One Yards Wonder book. Which, of course, I already own. So, without further ado, here is Snowball's new abode, complete with sleeping bag and pillow.

I give this project high marks (the book, mind you, not my rendering). The directions were super easy to follow. The only thing "wrong" was that you needed to cut out 2 of the exterior pieces - not 1. After the fact, I did find this on the corrections page of the publishers site as well.

For this dollhouse, I stitched the felt door, window and roof on after the fact. I had a hard time understanding what was going to actually occur step to step, and did not know what was really going to be what in the final product (i.e exterior vs. interior walls). Now that I have a better understanding of how it all works, I would add all the cuteness before assembly. This assumes I'll make another, which I will be doing, no doubt. So dang cute. I used an elastic headband for the closures, as I had nothing else on hand... they work fine, but I did use extra large buttons then as well. The fabric was a thrifted calico, and the handle was some ribbon doubled up. I attached it a bit wonky, but happily the 7 year old does not mind or notice.

I might love this house more than Rowan. It is so dang cute. I am envisioning mini hamster silhouettes hanging inside, as well as a hop scotch board on the "lawn" section. I would very much like to pack up and move in myself, but Snowball seems very settled.

Batwing Top & Ribbon Headbands

2010-01-16T15:13:00.001-08:00

I'm such a slave to the crafty blog-o-sphere, so when the divas out there create, I am inspired. Brooke called me last week and directed me to go immediately to the Batwing top on Burda. A-DOR-A-BLE. (Free as well, people... by the talented pixielink). This is especially nice for when I'm feeling puffy. Which is lately. After a successful thrifting trip this morning, and the corresponding purchase of a zillion yards of a flowery thrifted knit fabric, my own batwing top was attempted.

While not perfect (what ever is?) I love it. Tres comfy... and I learned how to do a decent v-neck. I think it would look better in a solid... and though I did not photograph it, it was super cute with a little knot tied on the bottom as well. I omitted the cuffs and just hemmed the sleeves and bottom.

Another tutorial out there caught my eye this week. Disney posted a tutorial here on making an embellished ribbon headband. I combined it with this tutorial (one of my favorites) and made a few. Matching mother/daughter ones...

I whipped this up from a scrap of the trim from my Grandmother's wedding dress.

I haven't decided if it will be embellished more than it already is, does it need a button or jewel? It is so pretty as is. This shot shows how I attached the hair binder.

Somewhat sadly, these headband shots forced me to purchase some hair dye, so looks like we'll have an exciting Saturday night here at the homestead! Slave to fashion that I am, and all :)

Apple doesn't fall far...

2010-01-14T18:57:00.000-08:00

My 7 year old, Rowan, got a sewing machine for Christmas. I swear it was something SHE really asked for, not something I pushed/cajoled her into getting (not overtly anyways). Yesterday, I opened up her machine while she was at school and filled a picnic basket with the necessary starting supplies - scissors, pins, some fabric, etc. I put her machine on a small table in the same room I sew in, but purposely set Miss Independent up with her own sewing "land", not too close to mine. She flew in the door from the bus and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw her space all ready to go. She was so excited, she begged to sit right down and sew.

I wish I could blog poetic about how heartwarming this experience was. I really do. But, like most things in our neck of the woods, it was more bittersweet - a trying, painful process, highlighted with a few breakdowns (Rowan) and swear words (me, and only internally I promise). Happily, we ended it on a huge high note when she realized she was done and her blanket was a success.

I gave Miss Rowan a pile of quilt squares I found at a thrift store and tried to stay out of her creative process. Rowan did all the sewing, while I ironed. The little pinning actually done was also done by me, but I had Rowan sit down and watch what I was doing and why. I did sew one of the 4 strips to test out her machine - (Good advice on the machine Mom - it rocks) - but the plan and design were entirely up to her. She decided that she wanted to alternate the colors and did not want to use the same squares twice in her blanket. While I may have suggested we use the fleece as a batting, she wanted to have it be the backing. Far be it to me to dictate or try to ruin her creative process, though I did balk at trying to teach her how to bind at this time. Instead, we just sewed the two right sides together, leaving a small hole to flip it around and then she did some amazing top stitching to close it up. As promised, there were a few breakdowns when her seams went wonky, and she stomped upstairs when a pesky little brother came over to investigate and chewed his apple too loud in her ear. Eventually she returned, though, and the blanked was completed. Originally planned to be for her doll Lulu, Rowan changed her mind and decided the handmade blanket was for her to snuggle with herself.

Soon after finishing , Rowan was quick to ask if she could have a blog like I do, so she can show her friends and family her sewing projects. I promised that I'd be happy to show off her creations in my little space... and, while not entirely happy sharing, she agreed to the arrangement for the short term :)

Gift Exchange (Belated Christmas Gifts, part 2)

2010-01-13T05:12:00.000-08:00

My friend Brooke and I had a quickee morning play date on Monday. We haven't had any time together since before Christmas, so we had some gifts to exchange as well. The little kids were wonderful (big ones were in school) and we managed some gabbing/chatting and coffee drinking. Sigh... it made me SOOOOOO happy. Oh, and the presents did too!

Here is what I whipped up for her...(I must have been channeling Anna Maria, since I used all her fabrics...)

A duvet for her camera strap... (I used this tutorial, but made it patchwork). Now that I know this fits her camera, there may be a few more in the works :) She has a lens the size of a small country for her camera and I know it makes her neck ache. This may be a new "go to" gift for her. A girl has to accessorize her strap with her ensemble, no?

This picture shows the reverse.

A bag to haul swim suits back and forth to lessons. The bag is just like the lingerie bags I made for Christmas gifts, but with some oil cloth added to the interior.

Here is the oil cloth...

and a close up of the applique. Since she has both boys and a girl child, we need suits of both genders, of course.

I feel like I made out like a bandit in this exchange. Check out my treasures from BL.

A cake/cookie stand, made from a plate glued onto a candle stick (?).... love it. It is happily full of oranges on my kitchen counter as I type this up.

Gloves with a cute applique...and with the thumb and pointer chopped off to facilitate texting. These have already come in very handy. The phone is mine, but I included it to to show an "action" shot.

A mini jade plant terrarium... so dainty and cute. It is helping me think of spring.

Love being friends with a photographer - she printed me some cute shots from our apple orchard day. These have some fun finishes- more like paintings than photos. As you can see, they are framed up and on display already.

And a pin cushion... isn't it cute? That e is for me, in case you were confused.

Fun morning, we'll have to repeat soon! Love my treasures!

Belated Christmas gifts.. part 1

2010-01-10T16:41:00.001-08:00

I had a few Christmas gifts left to finish and I was able to cross 2/3 of them off my to do list tonight. Hooray! I know it sounds bad and very belated, but I have a good excuse. Well, for one gift I do. That is the one I'm blogging tonight.

To set the scene a bit, my brother and his girlfriend Kate flew from New York (by way of Dallas, Texas to see her family) to spend the holidays with us. Kate is wonderful, and I knew I wanted to make her a handmade gift of some sort. My brother recommended a bag, but having only met her a handful of times, I was not comfortable choosing fabrics and patterns. NY is much more trendy and funky that the Midwest - would she want something fun and bright? Vintage and homey? Classy and understated? How to know what suits her best? My brother is of little use in that department, so instead of guessing, I printed up an exclusive gift certificate from "the Dabbler" and stated she could peruse the archives and find something she liked. Happy day for us both when she picked the Pleated Beauty from Amy Karol's Bend the Rules Sewing book. Absolutely, one of my favorite bags to make and drool over, as I'm sure you know if you read my blog frequently, semi-frequently or at all. My every day purse is one so I can attest to the functionality and 'beauty' first hand. Double happy day when she said to make it fun and bright. Right up my alley.. hope a touch of whimsy is OK as well.

I used fun Tina Givens fabrics for the exterior panels, and a hodge podge of her fabrics for the handles too. The inside fabric is a thrifted vintage sheet that matched perfect. I built in 2 pockets, and closed the larger one with some Velcro. I added a magnetic clasp to close the bag as well.

I had a little flannel on hand to line the straps, but not enough to line the entire bag. (note to self: time to hit the thrift stores and look for more flannel sheets). I ended up lining the bag with wool felt I had picked up in the remnants land at Joann's a long while back. It feels wonderful... sturdy and strong but still flexible. While I've made a boat load of these bags, this is the first time my seams all matched up perfectly! Check them out...

This baby will be off to NY tomorrow... hope she likes it. Merry Christmas Kate! (though I don't think she'll read this prior to receiving it in the mail).

In case you are wondering, I'll blog the other 1/3 of the gifts I completed tonight after the actual act of gifting occurs tomorrow. Since that giftee is a blog reader, I don't want to give it away!

Kindle Cover

2010-01-04T07:10:00.001-08:00

I got a Kindle for Christmas this year - Hallelujah! I whined, wheedled, hinted and down right begged Dave for one. He, sneakily, was in cahoots and knew my mom had got me one. So, he was smirking a bit when I opened non-Kindle gifts from him. Lucky me, though, my mom and step-dad had got one for me. Lucky Me :) I feel quite spoiled...

I've read 6 books so far, and am loving my Kindle. Capital L Love. But it does need some sort of protective cover for transport. Online, the covers are spendy. I read some reviews online stating that the cover made for Kindle's can actually crack the glass viewing screen as well. That does not seem right... the protective cover causing damage? For now, I decided a soft fabric cover would work best. As usual, I turned to the Internet for help... and as usual, the crafty blog-o-sphere came through.

I found this tutorial on the Junie Moon blog. While I could have winged something on my own, it would not have been as fitted nor would the seams have been entirely hidden. This tutorial was great - easy to follow and the end result works perfectly.

Here is the cover front, with a Velcro flap to keep it closed up tight.

And the back... with a pocket.
Here is my Kindle inside (purposely poking a bit out... it really does fit inside).

I used some fat quarters of my Good Folks fabrics for the cover....love this entire fabric line. The cover has fusible fleece inside, so it feels, well, protective. There is a pocket in the back that allows you to bring our your cords or headphones with. I found it works well to read from as well.

I am so appreciative that others post their crafty-ness and sewing genius on the Internet. Thanks to Junie Moon for her tute :)

Christmas Sewing

2010-01-02T13:32:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd do a quick post of my Christmas sewing projects. I saved up my sewing til the last minute, as usual... but got most of the projects I wanted to do done. Here are some pics (now that I've gifted most things).

A Folklore Bag from One Yard Wonders. This was for my sister's day care lady (Or, per my sister, girl). I used some thrifted fabric and hid an ugly seam with some gingham ribbon.

We made 3 sets of hot pads for Grandparents using the pattern from Stitched in Time by Alicia Paulson. Rowan drew pictures that reminded her of each person and we scanned them and printed them on printable fabric. She then helped me sew the hot pads as well :) Here are Gouma and Bumpa's set.

I made 2 sets of jammies for my kids and my niece and nephew. Here are Oliver and Griffin in their matching jams made from some dinosaur fabric (thrifted) and $3 t-shirts from Jo-anns.

I whipped up about 7 of these lingerie bags for some of the girls in my life. I used the pattern for the medium drawstring bag in Weekend Sewing and then used the appliques from this tutorial. I think they turned out dang cute...

For teacher gifts, I went for coffee cozies (made from the House on Hill Row tutorial) and Caribou gift cards. All the buttons were from my thrifted and gifted stash.

My cousins (much younger, though, more like nieces) in Texas each got name banners. I tried to coordinate them to their room decor...

One for Zoey-

And one for Sami-

I can't find any pics yet of the other jammies, and I have one more gift to make, so these will come later!

Merry Christmas - 2009

2009-12-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Hello again! My second annual blog Christmas letter- how exciting. Not entirely comfortable sending out an actual paper letter detailing our year, I felt no qualms whatsoever about stuffing our Christmas card envelopes with small photos containing my blog address. Makes it purely an optional event for those who'd like to stop by to read and catch up. In case you are not familiar to this here blog, this is normally where I (Emily) wax poetic about my crafty endeavors - or their unsuccessful attempts, as well as my crazy children, family and friends. For this month though, I will keep our Christmas letter up front and center, but feel free to visit anytime throughout the year to see what we are up to!
Oh -and for anyone stopping by from the crafty blog-o-sphere and wondering where something crafty or thrifty is - just you wait, I've got much to share come January when gift giving is all said and done...

This past year has been a busy one for us. We've managed to keep our sanity (barely), enjoy good health and wonderful friends and family, and watch our babies get ANOTHER year older.

Rowan turned 7 this past October. She started 1st grade and loves it. Her highlight has been riding the bus to school 3 out of 5 days each week, and from school every day. Currently, she is quite enamored with Taylor Swift and sings 2 songs that I'm sure you all have heard before CONSTANTLY. I know it could be worse, and at least it is very comical to hear a 7 year old belt out love songs like she has a fractured heart. Both Dave and I try hard to contain our smiles/smirks. Rowan has spent some time sitting on mom's lap while trying her hand at a few sewing projects this year. She even asked Santa for a sewing machine for Christmas with no provoking at all from her Mother dearest, I swear. Rowan continues to have the softest, biggest heart and loves to help anyone out. She is growing up much to quickly for our liking, but still saves plenty of time for cuddling and being our little girl.

Griffin turned 5 in September. We (OK, probably just me) were very happy that he missed the Kindergarten cut off. I'm not really ready for my baby to start real school yet. He was just born, for gosh sakes! Griffin did start pre-school and goes 2 days a week. He spends the remainder of the week at his Aunie Vanetta's house and alternates between being wonderfully sweet to devilishly naughty. A chip off the old (David) block, it seems I've heard from a few Thom siblings. His current love is dinosaurs. He loves them passionately... he can name and identify everything from a Lambeosaurus to a Iguanadon... but his favorite (go figure) is the T-Rex. We are very often subjected to extremely loud stomping and snarling as he wanders the house in search of prey. All this apparent toughness was offset by a recent viewing of a Discovery channel Dinosaur special. About 1/2 way through it, a teary eyed little boy came crawling in my lap asking me why the mean old dinosaurs would try to eat the babies. "You are not s'posed to eat the babies"! He is turning into an amazing little man and we enjoy him every day.

Dave spent the year changing roles at work, playing with his band (The Deadwoods) for some cancer benefits, finding the time to finish his degree, and is now starting his MBA. His highlight may have come this past fall when we were able to buy the cabin next door to my parent's house on Eagle Lake. We cannot wait to be lake people next summer- watch out for the new neighbors Mom! While I may be thinking ahead to the warm weather, Dave is currently thrilled that we are getting snowed on. During this time of year, he scans the weather reports constantly to find out where the snow is and where it is going to be. Then he chases it, snowmobile in tow, all winter long. He even finally gave in and had Lasik surgery done, but really only so he could see out of his snowmobile helmet better.

I myself am not sure where this past year went. It seems to be flying by faster than ever! I spent some time in Texas this spring visiting my Grandma and Aunt (and her fam)... and spent a lot of time this summer vegging on the beach or at the lake with the monsters. I found time for crafting, sewing and reading... and continued enjoying my part time hours (both while at work and while NOT at work). I love scouring the Internet for crafty ideas and inspiration and feel quite lucky to have the time to do so. I have the best friends and family - for reals - I do. OK - enough sap, but truly it has been a great year.

Last, but not least, Tupelo, our German Shepherd, turned 10 this November and is doing well. He had a rather rough patch with a lingering flea issue this fall, but has finally managed to kick it and is now enjoying being allowed back in the house (and on the couch) again.

We are blessed again this year to enjoy good heath and happiness - both within our immediate family and our larger extended families as well. We wish you all health, joy and happiness during the holiday season and all through 2010!
Merry Christmas!
Emily, Dave, Rowan and Griffin

Here are a few photos to highlight our year~

Griffin went through some phases in 2009. Here are the many faces of our boy...

Buddy the Elf

Spiderman

Indiana Jones

and last, but not least,Griffin the Dinosaur. We are still living this phase!

Here is our girl enjoying a swing at Grandma and Papa's.

(Auntie Jody snapped this shot)

Rowan and Mom snuggling prior to a nighttime visit from the tooth fairy.

Rowan and Griffin with their cousins Chloe and Oliver

gearing up for the 4th of July parade in Moose Lake.

Rowan helping celebrate Auntie Lauren's confirmation.

Hard for me to believe my littlest sister is graduating in June!!

Where did that time go?

Mom and the monsters this summer at the lake.

While they enjoy a good argument and tussle (as evidenced by the injury on Griffin's cheek),

these 2 beasties are still the best of friends .

We spent a weekend at Dave's sister Theresa's cabin for her birthday this year with some friends. Dave impressed us all by his water skiing prowess

(especially since he had not been out skiing in 10 years or so).

Rowan and Dad caught a few fish at the lake.

Tupelo barked from the end of the dock the entire time they were out.

We managed a quick family vacation to Canal Park in Duluth. Here are Griffin and Dad watching boats go under the lift bridge.

My mom and step dad gifted us a great sign as we christened our new cabin!

Last up, thanks to Brooke, we had a great family photo shoot this fall.

Thanks for visiting!
Merry Christmas!

busy busy busy

2009-12-15T19:02:00.000-08:00

There has been much activity going on here lately. Painting walls, cleaning EVERYTHING, purging the house of clutter.... but not much crafting or sewing. Turns out I cannot get a new pile of books from the library and also craft at the same time. Huh. I started reading the Percy Jackson series (I ended up with #2 and #4, but they read just fine out of order), along with some new to me witchy/vampire series (set in neighboring Wisconsin- by some lucky chance). The witchy series is by Tate Halloway, and so far, I like. Much more Sookie than Bella... in that I spent more time laughing than mooning...

I did manage a little sewing just prior to our annual cookie exchange a week or so back. I made up a quick tote from some thrifted (AMY BUTLER) fabric and an Orla Kiely dishtowel from Target. I left the Orla tag inside... just so it could be confused with the Dabbler tag on the outside pocket. Voila... (we can just call it Jen's bag, since she is the "lucky" girl who now has 2 Dabbler totes)

For the actual exchange, 8 of us, including my Rowan, met up to exchange cookies, swap gifts and eat Chinese food. I was unsure if my gift was an official $10-$15 one. Hard to put a price on it since it actually cost no where near that to make. Just to be sure, I added a bottle of Burt's Bees peppermint body wash... and THAT was my exchange gift. The company was wonderful... the dinner, fantastic, and the cookies were great - unfortunately they are all eaten already. Humph....hello New Years resolutions.

Prior to hitting the library, I also managed to operate a spray paint can and craft up some door art. Reminds me of the refrigerate poetry a bit. These are kiddie plastic letters sprayed with matte black paint. I have them on the inside of my front door- to message all those leaving the premises. Quick and easy, and rather fun.

There is some serious sewing happening here starting tomorrow. I am WAY behind on my holiday gift crafting... but in college I seemed to work best under pressure. Oh, and with some vino as well :)

grateful

2009-11-26T08:49:00.000-08:00

I am honestly so very grateful for piles and piles of things this Thanksgiving day. I have a healthy, happy family. We have good jobs, a roof over our head that I constantly redecorate, and food (albeit uninspired) on the table each day. I am so very lucky to have good friends, and feel blessed that I've been able to spend time on my crafty endeavors - whether it be actually doing projects, or simply being inspired by all the creativity I find out in blog land. All this said, I'm particularly grateful today that I am not hosting or traveling far for Thanksgiving. Extremely bad form, I know, to show how selfish and sloth-ish I am today, but I am still in my jammies and sipping coffee at 11 o'clock today. Bliss. We are heading to Dave's sister's house later today... just across town. Since I was feeling so giddy to not have to do any of the hard work this year, I did make a hostess gift for Jody. I feel confident (and guilty) that she'll be too busy this morning to see this post, in the odd chance she were to visit the blog, so I'll show you all the apron I made her. Here it is...

This is from the A is for Apron book. In the book, this pattern is called "Kaleidoscope", and the pin tucks and contrasting fabrics are what really drew me to it. I made one of these a while back for a swap, so this one came together pretty quick. My only issue was that copied pattern from the copy shop was not quite right - I'm guessing the measurements were a bit off - specifically the trim was not long enough. I just traced the bottom of the main apron pattern itself,measured up 3" or so, and made the trim that way.

The pin tucks on the obi belt are not hard, just a bit tedious, but they really add a fun element to the apron. It is made to be worn up high on the waist, so that you stay clean while leaning into counters or tables.

The ties have 2 vintage buttons each on the ends. I deliberately mismatched all 4 of them. I went to my favorite "go to" fabric combination (surprise) - Zazu by Tina Givens. Love these 2 together... and they seemed fall-esque, thus appropriate for Thanksgiving.

I'd better be off... I may have finally gathered up enough energy to do some dishes and make beds. Love me a good lazy morning! Happy Thanksgiving all! Eat lots, share some wine, revel in family and friends and count blessings! That is my agenda for the day.

randomness from Monday

2009-11-24T20:49:00.000-08:00

This post is scattered and random, kind of like me, as of late. It all relates to some quick shopping from Monday though, so that is the "tie".

I managed to hit Joann's $1.99 pattern day (McCall's and Simplicity) on Monday. Looks like I have the makings of a new wardrobe. Can't wait to try out some of these! They may have to wait until after some holiday sewing is done though...

On Monday, I also found a souvenir tablecloth at a thrift store. I've been looking for one of these off and on for awhile now, and I am SOOOOOOOOO thrilled with this one. Whether it is actually vintage or not, I'm not sure, but it is fun! It does still have the original sticker on it from when it was purchased- and I only paid 99 cents!

At another thrift store, I found a retro end table. Only $2.95. I haven't decided how/if it will be painted or repurposed... time will tell. I've got some new (to me) wing chairs coming to replace these checkered chairs, so I wanted a table that was shorter than the vintage sewing machine that "lived" there before. My mom is moving these chairs to her new condo in Florida. Between my mother, sister and myself, it is usually a bit of a free for all or switch-eroo with all of us in regards to furniture and who has what at any given time. Dave has a hard time keeping up. I suggest he does not try :)

You may see the paint bucket behind the chair. On Monday I also got a wild hair to change the paint color in the kitchen and family room. The walls are divided into 3 sections by some trim pieces. It had been painted 3 different BRIGHT colors. Now, I'm neutralizing a bit and going with 3 different shades of khaki/tan. We've got enough going on with all the bright furniture and accessories, so I'm going to make the wall less of a distraction. Now, the room is in chaos, with 1/2 the furniture pushed to the center of the room, and the other 1/2 hauled into the front room.

Thankful

2009-11-23T19:29:00.000-08:00

We spent this past weekend doing some thinking about Thanksgiving and what we are thankful for. I saw a blog where the family had created a "thankful tree" (it was here), so the kids and I made our own version. The kids called their daddy, all the way up in his deer stand, to find out his thankfuls too. Turns out he was not to be thankful for "catching" a deer...and honestly, I'm rather thankful that there are no dead deer in my garage, as there has been in years past. Just don't tell him that.

After compiling our lists, we wrote our thoughts on the "leaves" made from some fall colored scrap book paper. Since these are SO obviously my kids, food was a prevalent topic - as was family and friends.

Turns out some of us are very thankful for dinosaur toys, while others for snowmobiles...

That was not the end of our turkey day crafting. Rowan drew an adorable turkey and then wanted it made into a pillow. She has me in the palm of her hand if her wants include me sewing something :) I had her re-draw the turkey design on the pillow fabric (some thrifted corduroy) with a fabric pen and then I did reverse applique to "fill it in".

Here is a happy, and thankful, girl, chill-axin on her pillow. (Nance, notice she is in her cousin's old VB jersey... she loves it!)

repurposing some thrifts

2009-11-18T19:35:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to show some repurposing that I squeezed in today between cooking and cleaning up after cooking. Both projects were done using thrifted goodies I just picked up this week.

In my last post I mentioned I was making a pinboard from this tutorial, right? It is done! Hooray!
I found a hideous plasticy-brassy colored, oval frame at the thrift store, but of course, did not take a picture of it to show y'all a "before" shot. To help you envision it, I'm pretty sure it was circa 1983, lots of mauve and country blue in the print that showed a cottage and a small stream. Puke. I ditched the print right away and threw a coat of plastic primer on the frame. Today, I added a coat of antique white on it with a teeny paint brush because a) it was all I could find and b) it adds more texture and brush strokes, so it looks more chunky. And for this project, chunky is good. Last, I put a piece of cardboard behind some burlap, screwed the frame back on again, and voila, pinboard is done.

I love the detail on the frame edge - almost looks like flowers.

I don't have an exact location/home for it yet, and only threw a few pics on it for blogging purposes, but I do love it. Oh, the pics of the kids are from Brooke at Tadpole Photography taken last year. I just put my order in for our new ones...can't wait to get them!

I fell upon a cashmere sweater for $2 at the thrift store. $2 people. Actually, $1.99. It was a 1/2 button down cashmere sweater from Talbots. The style was not, erm.. flattering, and the color a bit much for me to actually wear, so I knew it was going to be repurposed into something. After some googling, I attempted this hat tutorial, but the ribbing was just too short to attach well. Then I decided to use one a tiny sliver of my coveted Heather Ross Mendocino Seahorse fabric to make the band. I have been hoarding this fabric for the "perfect" project. This counts as it matched perfectly.

I left the buttons on the hat, copying the cute tutorial. I had originally thought that this could be for Rowan, but my kids have had "off the chart" head sizes from the get go, so it may have to be part of my slowly growing Christmas gift stash.

I still have way over 1/2 the sweater left for other crafting pleasure. Scarf like this? Stuffie like this? Hmm.... we'll have to see!

Quick thrift trip

2009-11-16T17:40:00.001-08:00

Seems I should have a regular post titled this, as I do manage a quick trip while Griffin is at preschool almost each week. I don't always leave with things, but today had to actually grab a cart. Since I received some money from my Dad and Step-Mom for my birthday, I went a little more hog-wild at the Goodwill than usual. I know, crazy talk. Well, not WILD wild, but I did find some goodies.

I found this adorable lamp. Just cleaned it up a little and it works great.

I picked up a small chalk board for the monsters. They have been writing on it all night.

I found 2 men's sweaters for repurposing. I forgot to take a before picture, but from one of these, I now have me a capey-shawl-thingy that I made using this tutorial. A quick side - My Mama Made it is a repurposing, fashion genius, and her ideas inspire me to actually care about what I wear each day. Huh, who knew? Her ideas are responsible for all the embellished t's I've done lately.

Here is me in the capey-shawly-thingy in the backyard.

No more pics, but I also picked up some fabric that is in the washer with the other wool sweater, a gargantuan embroidery hoop and a huge oval frame that is in the garage with a coat of primer on it, awaiting its new life as a framed pin board (ala this tutorial). Seems this trip yielded more projects and work than a lot of instant gratification. That is good, as I am in a project-y kind of mood.

Therapeutic Sewing

2009-11-16T07:08:00.000-08:00

We are a bit down here... got some bad news on Friday and then had an extremely lazy weekend where we moped and vegged. I read 7 books (love Nora and her alter ego JD for giving me a distraction) and watched every Bones episode I could find on Hulu. Last night, I finally decided to try to recapture my "groove" and did some sewing. Turns out it was very therapeutic.

Of late, I seem to have grown a fan in Rowan. As I was opening my sewing hutch, she asked, "Mom, are you going to make me something?". But of course, silly. She picked out some fabrics and I made here a new shirt and a dress.

The shirt is from this tutorial (like this one was too) from Blueprints. I actually wrote down her measurements this time so I can recreate it without starting from scratch next time. Rowan wanted the red thrifted fabric with birds and houses for the main fabric and found a fat quarter of the orange fabric for the sleeves. She is very warm blooded, so despite the fact that our ground is covered in frost this morning, she still asks for short sleeves.

Love the red fabric - little houses and flowers and birds (oh my!).

I added a little patch of the orange to the bottom corner and included my homemade label. She loves this part - and honestly so do I :)

I finally tried the Sienna Dress pattern from Lil Blue Boo last night as well. It is a pattern that lets you re purpose t-shirts into a cute dress, shirt or tunic. I did not follow all the directions, and learned from my mistakes.... but am still happy with how it turned out. Rowan is as well - she loves that this dress is a hodge podge of t-shirts from both Mom and Dad. She decided to wear it to school today, over jeans. When I said I thought tights would work a bit better, she stated (rather snottily) "Mom, I have my own fashion style and I like it with my skinny jeans". Hmmph. Guess she told me. I can't wait to try this again on some more t-shirts.... this time using shirts of like weight and starching things before hand, hint hint. Those were my 2 "issues" this time around, that were unnecessary, had I followed the directions (Ack!).

Here is Rowan's "skeleton/guitar/Audrey" version. A good mix of Mom and Dad, per Miss Sassafrass herself.

My friend Shari drew my attention to this pattern a few months ago, so we'll have to find some t-shirts to make up a version for her Miss Quinn as well. It would be (is, per the flickr site) adorable for a little one too. For Rowan's, I kept the sleeves short (as dictated) and did not hem them or the bottom, instead letting the knit roll just a bit. Love it on her... and she does too, but is mad at me in this picture for the tights comment.

So thanks to sewing for some cheap therapy. And, better yet, thanks to the wonderful friends and family that refused to let an unanswered phone get in the way of "talking" to me this weekend. I got tons of emails and facebooks messages, and voicemails too. I appreciate them all :)

Apple Orchard play date

2009-11-09T15:00:00.001-08:00

We met up with some friends today at an apple orchard. Beautiful weather + busy and imaginative kids + a fantastic orchard + wonderful friends = a great day! Thanks Brooke and Becky!

Birthday gift for my Mom

2009-11-08T13:29:00.001-08:00

Since we are on day 3 of Dave gone a-hunting, there has been more sewing going on than usual around here. It helps that it was beautiful outside, so the monsters are playing "dinosaur hunter" and "camping" in the back yard, while I get my sewing groove on. I finished my mom's slightly belated Birthday gift today. Heck, it is still her Birthday month, so it is not really all that late.

My mother may have mentioned awhile back she wanted a Lickety Split bag... so the pattern (Made by Rae pdf pattern- love it) was easy to choose. Fabric selection was a bit more of a dilemma. I hemmed/hawed over what fabric to use for either side of this reversible bag. She is not a fan of LOUD funky fabric (ahem... like me...), and does not care for my vintage stuff, so most of my fun fabrics were out. She does love quality fabric... in fact she cringes that I buy fabric online when I can't actually touch it first. I ended deciding to use some fabric she bought for me on her last trip to Hawaii for one side. She loves tropical prints and it is such a nice fabric... is it kind of "regifting" to make her something of it? Oh well, she won't care. While scrounging through the stash of fabric I own for the other side, I bumped into some printable photo paper. I had used it to make these bags a few months ago. It triggered some inspiration and I decided to print out some pictures of her 4 grandkids and put them on as pockets. Then it was easy to decide on some off-white corduroy fabric for the body of the bag... so as to not draw too much attention away from the cute kids. I was extremely lucky to have photos on hand that Brooke (Tadpole Photography) took of both sets of kidlets last year. Love her shots! Here is the Hawaii side.

Here is the corduroy side. From this angle, you get just a peek of the pockets, a "tease" if you will. But if she were walking at you with the bag, you'd see whatever pocket is forward. She can decide which grandkids are her favorite for the moment each time she uses it. She'd like that...

Here is the pocket with my niece and nephew on it.

And finally, the one with my beasties on it.

Rowan had to take her Gooma's bag for a spin as well. Looks beachy to me.

I am thinking maybe a nap now (if I can convince the kids to partake as well) and them more sewing??

Seeing Red

2009-11-07T20:19:00.000-08:00

Before and after a great play date/gabfest today, I finished a few sewing projects. They both happened to be in the red color genre... so they make for a consistent, if not cohesive, blog post.

I was asked by my sister in law (I have 10, btw, so if you've heard me mention one before, this one is probably a different one) if I could make a bag for her daughter Isobel's birthday. She sent the link to this tote on the Martha Stewart site - and said she'd love this in a string backpack with red tartan fabric. I mainly used the directions for the string backpack in my Sew What! Bags book - but made up my own dimensions, as I've heard from others that they can end up too small to carry much more often than not. While I took that advice and made a pretty large pack, I was not overly impressed with the home "grommeting" I've seen done before (sorry Nance!), nor was I liking the books plan to sew the straps into the bottom seam of the bag. I decided to use fabric loops to run the cord through instead of either of previous methods. Originally, I looked for a different dog silhouette online, but ended up going with the exact dog from Martha's tutorial... just printed out the picture and traced it onto Wonder Under. I used a piece of black t-shirt to make the dog applique - and some seam binding to make the leash. I interfaced the tartan with pretty stiff facing, since it is homespun fabric and kind of wilty on its own. I then used some white fabric to make a liner - more to hide seams than to add any structure. I got a little of the wonder under on the dog and decided to throw it in the wash to see what would come out. Most of the adhesive came out - and it washed well. I still see a little of the adhesive, but I can (and do) find flaws in all things I make. I had to back up and just decided it was good. I hope Isobel likes her new pack. Here is Rowan modeling the backpack.

Isn't the dog cute?

Here are the fabric "loops" that the cording is run through.

The lining is only attached at the top of the bag.

I planned to make myself a new skirt tonight, despite the fact that I am behind on my mother's birthday present. Must be karma, because after I sewed together the side seams of the skirt I cut out, I realized there was NO WAY that it would fit me. I used a self drafted A-Line skirt pattern from Sew What! Skirts that I had used before, but I must have done something wonky, or the Halloween binging has finally caught up with me. Regardless, it was not going to fit me anytime soon, so I decided to make it into a skirt for Rowan instead. Since I used one of my favorite Tina Givens fabrics for the skirt, and happened to have a coordinating piece of fabric in the stash, I made Rowan a quick shirt as well. I have eyed the Peasant Blouse tutorial over on Blueprints for a long while now. To be honest, the idea of measuring and drafting on my own was a bit daunting, but we did it tonight, or at least managed to create a reasonable facsimile. The top is not perfect, but looks adorable on... AND (drum roll please) Rowan likes it! Because she picked out how long her sleeves got to be, she felt very involved in the process. Guess that is what it takes to get her to wear home sewn gear. Hey, whatever works! Here is her new ensemble.

I used fold-over elastic on the arms...so quick and easy. Well, it was once I marked the 1/2 way point on both the shirt and the elastic, so as to make sure I was doing enough stretching as I zig and zagged.

I'm off to bed with all my sewing gear still out - and with plenty of plans to sew more tomorrow. (Hint Hint Mom - your bag is all cut out and ready for sewing!)

Woodlands Shirt

2009-11-04T05:50:00.000-08:00

I was lucky enough to be able to "test" the Woodlands Shirt pattern from Meg from Sew Liberated a few months back. The pattern is a unisex shirt - and makes anywhere from a size 2T to a 10. How great is that? One pattern that will fit for years. And it is so versatile, I am thinking up some new ways and fabrics to use on a few more of these for both my kids. My favorite parts are the square neckline, the little pleats on the neck and the buttons - LOVE the buttons.

I decided to make Rowan a version of the shirt - in a size 7, which runs very true. I used a remnant of fabric I have had for a while now (Joann's??) and it went together like a dream. The method Meg uses to attach the arm is so much easier than others I've done - and did not require sewing in a "round". When thus then required no swearing on my part.

Rowan wearing her shirt, playing in the backyard.

She preferred wearing her shirt with a brown corduroy skirt. Adorable, if I do say so myself :)

Here is a close up of the vintage buttons we decided to use. This may be my favorite part of the pattern.

The only modifications I made to the pattern were not inlcluding the pocket (I thought this fabric was busy enough as it was) and not double sewing around the hem and sleeves. Had I realized that the double hem would be repeated in the neck, sleeves AND hem, I probaby would have done it right from the get go.

I am now thinking it may be time to try the Schoolhouse Tunic for me... I love a tunic over jeans combo.

Sunday Sewing

2009-11-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

I got some sewing done today- Hooray! Some things were more "fun" to sew than others, but I am feeling uber-productive. May just be the 20 lbs of chocolate coursing through my body, but regardless, I got some stuff done.

I planned to put a package in the mail last week for a good friend that fairly recently had twins, but decided at the last minute that Mama needed a gift too. My thoughts were to save this picture to post with the other goodies that are going out in the mail with it tomorrow. Turns out, I did not take pictures of the rest of the goodies, so this is it, as the package is all taped up and ready to go. Oh, and I should state that this is a spoiler, I guess, if the recipient a) figures out it is for her (how many people do I know that recently had twins?), and b) peeks at my blog before it arrives. I whipped this tote up out of some ticking fabric I had on hand. My sister in law saw a similar bag on the Martha Stewart site, and that was the inspiration for this one. I deliberately did not sew the edges of the dog applique down - I wanted it to fray a bit, since this breed is a bit shaggy/furry :)

Next up was the more mundane task - some mending. Griffin had 3 pairs of jeans in the mending pile, as they all had torn knees. I typically hate trying to patch his knees, since the jeans are so skinny for his little 5T self. I decided to tear out the side seam, and make my life a lot easier. And it truly was - SO MUCH EASIER. After patching the knees, I just sewed up the seam and then serged the edges again. Good as new. I used a few different things to patch the holes- some other denim scraps, some decorator weight fabric and some suede-y stuff from a thrifted shirt. Looks like he won't be needing new jeans for awhile now.

I love the suede patches - I sewed big zig zagged "X's" on them.

I also love just having the one knee with a striped patch.

Last up, I had made a few applique onesies for some newly born babes a while back... but in ironing one where I did an applique neck tie (found the tutorial/template online but cannot find it now anywhere!), my iron leaked some orangy water and created some stains. I threw it in the wash, but could not get the stain all the way out. Drat! I took this out today and cut off most of the stained area (along with the snappy bottom of the onesie) and added a little skirt. A certain Miss Vada I know may need a new ensemble, and I bet her mama can get the little stain there is left out. Or she'll come up with something crafty to make it all good.

It reminds me of a school uniform now...

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-31T18:32:00.001-07:00

Rowan and I had a day of thrifting and shopping today - while the boys did some messing around at the hunting land. All I know is that Rowan and I came home with all sorts of treasures (to be shared post laundry) and the boys came back incredibly dirty.

Dave and his brother Jim took the kids trick or treating tonight, while I manned the treat basket at home. I may have ate my fair share of Snickers bars as well, but that is part of the job of manning the treat basket, right? Rowan was a gypsy and Griffin a T-Rex. It was mighty chilly outside, but at least no rain. Both kiddies were real troopers and were rewarded well for their perseverance. We have enough candy here to feed a small army.

Griffin is a bit crabby here - did not want to sit still to pose for me.

Rowan as a gypsy... with her "Hot Chillys" long undewear underneath her costume. The skirt was made from some sari fabric from India.

Griffin as a T-Rex. My mom bought his this costume online somewhere and he LOVES it.

Dave and his brother were then off to a Halloween party - can you guess who they are being?

If you guessed Cheech and Chong, you are right. It has been awhile (since college?) since I've seen a Cheech and Chong movie, but they did make me smile! Dave looked a bit like the painter guy on PBS, and a little like Weird Al in the Amish song video (can't remember the name now), but they sure got into it! I'm staying in with the troops to watch Harry Potter. Happy Halloween!

Disclaimer: They are holding props - just plain old paper... cross my heart...

Bag (making) Lady

2009-10-24T20:14:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that I had an extra dog, 2 extra kids and a missing husband, I managed to get some sewing done today. My mom and step-dad dropped off their dog yesterday morning on the way to jump on a plane to Florida. My sister and I met 1/2 way between us on Friday night to get me her kiddies- and Dave was busy doing hunting stuff today. All the prep work for hunting makes the season last EVEN longer than it already is. A weekend to clear brush, a weekend to build stands, a weekend to site rifles ... you name it, they've got to do it. I've stated in the past that I feel that these weekends are more often than not really "a weekend to drink beer and hang out with brothers"... but it is not that big of a deal. Especially since the kids are getting big enough to truly entertain themselves. So while the 4 monsters were busy destroying the house, I finished 2 bags that I had started for our nieces, Sam and Alexa. Both girls had spent some time perusing my blog to find what bag that they wanted me to make them, and then they shopped and picked out their own fabrics. They did a great job with their choices, I think they turned out adorable!

Sam wanted a Pleated Beauty tote. (Sigh). I love this bag. It is from the Bend the Rules Sewing book, which is a personal favorite. I've made so many now of these bags (here, here, and here)but it is still enjoyable to make and goes together very quickly. By the time you think you are ready to sew it for real (after attaching the pleats) you are just about done! I use this one I made a while back 90% of the time as my daily purse/bag/tote. Sam also went with 2 fabrics on the main panels and a coordinating pleat fabric. I lined her bag with corduroy, since that is what I had on hand, and made the straps a little longer, in case she uses it to haul books to and from school. Here is her finished bag...

And a quick shot of the pocket inside.

Alexa wanted a Lickety Split bag (pattern by Made by Rae). This one also sews up super quick and easy. Before I made it, I made sure that I could fit school notebooks and folders in my own version. This baby can hold a ton of things, and is reversible! I had some green chenille rick rack that I added to the pockets, I lined it with a layer of flannel to make it extra sturdy- and because (I think) she mentioned liking flowers, I added a flower pin that can be removed and pinned to the reverse side on this bag.

Here is Alexa's finished bag...

And the reverse side..

A close up of the pin. I used this tutorial to make the flower.

Now, I'd better clean up some of the disaster that is my house. Night!

Vintage Swap Joy

2009-10-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

I received my Vintage Swap package from Kiran today. Honestly, the swap gifts were so PERFECTLY me. For real. Buttons in a glass jar (sigh), a vintage homemade 1/2 apron, as well a vintage apron pattern, an embroidered tea towel and a dainty hot pad... It could make a grown woman (vintage loving one at that) shed a small tear of joy. On top of the vintage goodies, she threw in a jar of Grapefruit Lemon marmalade and a recipe for some homemade white bread. Both of these look so good, that I think Wednesday morning, before G goes to school, just may be baking time. Delish...

Here is a picture of the entire package....

Hooray for buttons!

Here is a shot of the vintage pattern (excuse the glare please). Isn't it fun??

I should have taken a few more shots of the individual items, but I was too busy putting everything in the perfect places. The button jar went to live with my others - now forming a cute, close knit little community of buttons. The apron was hung from the apron tree in my kitchen. All the better to grab one and use it, I say. The towel got a prominent spot hanging on the oven door handle... everything so perfect.

I'm not sure if Kiran got what I sent yet - so in case she is reading, this is your SPOILER ALERT. I'll be posting picture of what was sent your way last week now. Read at your own discretion! I'm guessing she should have the package any day now... should probably check the tracking number tomorrow just in case though....

Kiran had written that she liked vintage linens - and used them in both the bedrooms and kitchen. She also recently got a sewing machine. I myself love a vintage sheet - either for sewing or for using as an actual sheet (I know, the irony). While thrifting, I found a yellow twin sheet with a cute edge. I confess to thinking little girl pj pants when I spotted it, but it could be so many things :) I also picked up a little fall themed tablecloth. Looks to be homemade - hope it works for her house. I rounded things off with a yard of ribbon and 3 vintage embroidered hankies. I had one hankie in my stash and found the other 2 while out thrifting. I deliberately went with the embroidered ones as I know she has hankies of her own. I am surprised with how often I find duplicates in vintage goodies, and did not want to give her something she already had. I wrapped up the goodies in tissue paper and used vintage sewing notions to decorate the packages.... thinking the snaps and what not may come in handy with the new machine in use.

Here is the package all wrapped up.

And, unveiled. Did not realize how "yellow" it looks until now :)

This swap was so much fun. I have loved reading the blogs of all the other swappers. I confess to finding some comfort in discovering others that love vintage as much as I do.... I'm not as "odd" as I may feel some days. Or, maybe I am, but at last I have awesome company!

Gypsy skirt and ruffles

2009-10-15T18:26:00.000-07:00

After taking the day off to be with the kids (Rowan is off of school), Dave met my mom tonight and gave her Rowan for a night at "Gouma's" with her cousin. Then Dave and Griffin went to visit his mom and dad for the night. I got home from work with NOTHING to do. Well, except that I thought we had been robbed, the house was so torn apart from Dave spending the day with the kids. Serious, I started to look for the valuables, until I remembered that we don't have any. Well, we do, they would be the kids, but I knew where they were :)

So after cleaning the house, with still NOTHING to do, I watched Glee on Hulu (as usual, I forgot to tune in last night when it was on TV). Then, feeling smiley and humming Glee songs, I suddently remembered that I had to make Rowan a gypsy skirt TODAY since we are doing "Boo at the Zoo" in Duluth this weekend to celebrate her birthday. While I had signed on to make the skirt for Halloween, I forgot about her needing a costume 2 weeks before hand for her party. Lucky, it went together fast. I used some sari fabric that my friend Kim brought home from India and crafted up a quick tiered skirt.

While sewing the skirt, my mind wandered to what I would wear to work tomorrow. It can actually wander quite freely when there is not a little boy screaming dinosaur sounds at you and pouncing around you looking for "predators" to eat while you sew. (Sniff - kind of miss him while I'm writing this). Anyways... since I could think of nothing to wear, I decided to doll up another t-shirt. No, this one was not even stained first, just boring. It is yet again, another 3/4 sleeve V-neck from Target a few years ago. I have been drooling over the fun t-shirt modifications I've seen here on the My Mama Made It blog . I took a strip of tulle and a strip from another black t-shirt and made a quick ruffle from them sewn together. Then I added it to the neckline. It maybe took 10 minutes to do... well, maybe a smidge longer since I pinned the ruffle to 3 different shirts before I went back to this one.

Here is a ruffle close up.

And the upper body shot to show it on. Does it look a bit like a racoon tail? I had to crop out my jammie pants in this picture :)

Now I am gonna crash about 2 hours ahead of schedule. Bliss. But I do miss them all...

more thrifting - and yes I know I have a problem

2009-10-14T19:35:00.001-07:00

It seems I've done much more thrifting of late than sewing, embroidering, crocheting or any other crafty endeavor. I've got a project hanging over my head that I NEED to finish this weekend. It is sucking all the other creativity out of me - and causing tremendous amounts of guilt as it lies incomplete. Once that is done, I've got a traffic jam of projects that will be flowing out of me - just you wait and see.

In the mean time, I thrift. I made one more quick stop today at my favorite thrift store in search of a few last minute items for my Vintage Swap partner. I did find what I was looking for and I've got this all ready to go out tomorrow, but won't blog about it until after it is out in the mail. I managed to find a few things for myself as well (ahem). But really, they were/are necessary! Dave and I closed on the cabin next door to my mom's last weekend. While we've been staying there for years, now it is officially ours.... so of course it needs more bed linens. And a full size bed is a little harder to find sheets for in department stores, right? Except when you visit a thrift store and then they are vintage fabulous! Look at this sets I found today - sheets and pillowcases. They are in such good shape I had to slap myself to NOT cut them up and make clothing out of them.

I also found my first ever vintage quilt. I see people in blog land get glorious vintage quilts all the time... but all I ever see are hideous polyester ones that are falling apart. Today, I found one that I really like. It may not be the most "pretty" quilt ever, but it is random and wonderful.

I mended a few tears, but it is in great shape for the most part. It is twin size and will look great on one of the bunks at the cabin.

While searching the toy section for more dinosaurs for G, I found a big old bag full of wooden blocks. For some reason, I swiped them up without having much of a project in mind. Then, I played around to see what I could spell with them. Look at the inspiring words I made...

Oh, and then you can see the juvenile tilt my brain also has.

A few words ended up on top of my sewing hutch... along with my other favorite treasures and my crafting books.

Last up - I had to feed my new found Pyrex addiction. I found a groovy white dish with black designs. It had the glass lid still, and is pristine. In this picture, you can also see the 3 yards of fabric I found for under 3 bucks. Love me a good thrifted fabric deal! I am seeing a skirt for Rowan for Valentines day out of this.

Hopefully the next posts I make here soon will be to show some bags I'm making for 2 nieces, some skirts and dresses I've got lined up for some little ladies and some Halloween decorating and costumes I've got to get done!

Birthday girl

2009-10-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

My daughter Rowan turned 7 yesterday. S-E-V-E-N! I'm having a hard time believing that I have been a parent that long - where has the time gone? Seems like just yesterday Dave and I were dating and just thinking about getting married, let alone having a family that included not 1 but 2 kids. I know it is cliche, but having kids has made the time FLY by. Instead of posting all the pictures of her through the years (which I did here last year in case you want to ride the memory roller coaster with me), I opted to just show her as she is now. Here is Miss Rowan in a shot Brooke took a few weeks back.

Rowan is my sassa-frassing, 7-going on 32-year old. Full of kindness AND stubbornness, she is equally likely to be pouting about not getting to choose her outfit as she is to be cuddling with her little brother and reading him a dinosaur book. We've taken bets in the family as to whether she will be a Project Manager when she is older, because of her strict policy of following the rules and doing only things that are right, and then only in the correct order. She is my little monster. Love her.

Of course she needed a fun t-shirt to wear to school commemorating her big day... and her very advanced age. Here is Rowan in her Super Seven shirt.

She had only worn the lime green long sleeve t-shirt I opted to embellish one time, but somehow managed to get a small stain on the belly and tear a hole in one sleeve. I took another t-shirt that was much too small now and cut off the sleeves and a hunk off the back. The black shirt became new black cuffs and a big old oval to the front. I cut a quick "7" out of the oval first... and then sewed around this and the oval shape... kinda of a reverse-reverse applique.

a quick thrift stop

2009-10-07T19:03:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've mentioned the Vintage Swap I joined a few weeks ago. The premise being we pair up with a fellow vintage lover and swap goodies. I've had much fun perusing all the blogs of the swappers - these ladies are talented folks who love vintage goodness as much as I do. While these ladies are seemingly quite wonderful, I am blaming them for my purchase (OK, purchasES) today of some vintage baking dishes and bowls. It wasn't until I started seeing some of the collections of Pyrex or Corningware that some of them have that I began to covet them myself. While my husband may think they are unnecessary - they will allow me to purge some of the icky plastic bowls we have in house. Oh, and they are so pretty. The bowls remind me of my Grandma's house and making cookies.

We were truly in and out of the thrift store real quick - since G had to be to preschool by noon. I still managed to find some retro sheets - which always come in handy (pj pants, quilts, etc).

And best of all, I found some thrifted burlap. Well, it may not truly be burlap, since there seems to be a plastic-y coating on the back side, but it worked for the project I had in mind. After seeing this and this, I wanted to make my own burlap banner for Halloween (though I shamelessly copied the exact wording from my inspirations). I used freezer paper stencils for the letters, thrifted ribbon (the orange gingham) and buttons on the "Boo" one, and some polka dot ribbon on the Spooky one.

Please excuse the fact that I have no other fall/Halloween decor up yet - now I'll need to get a move on to accessorize with my banners :)

Another embellished T

2009-10-04T19:34:00.000-07:00

I may have mentioned that my aunt did not like my corsage t-shirt. It may be more honest to say she did not "love" it... but from her, that means she thinks it is hideous. To get back at her, I made her one of her own. (I'll sure show her.) Anyhoo... while trying to change my Aunt's mind, I ended up having some left over magenta knit circles. Oh, and I had another stained v-neck t-shirt as well.

I know - I sound like quite the slob. What, with this stained shirt, as well as admitting the stain was the reason d'etre for my own corsage t-shirt - you may have the (partially correct) idea that I am a messy girl. Honestly, it may really have more to do with my inability to throw things away. No - for real, I know that these shirts I've been re-doing (for myself only, I am not gifting my Aunt an old stained shirt of mine - hers was new - I swear) are at least 2 or 3 years old. How do I know/remember this when I can't seem to bring the garbage to the curb each Tuesday? Well, it is because they are the perfect shirt. Not too thin, or too tight, or too long. Target now seems to only produce t-shirts that are incredibly light weight and thin, way too long for anyone under 5'11" and extremely narrow - so narrow that they accentuate any and all muffin-top one may have. Eee gads- I am not a fan. For that reason, along with being too cheap to splurge for higher end ones, I've hung on to these v-neck beauties (stains and all) from years past.

Enough 'splaining, let's talk t-shirt modification. I took two of the magenta circles, stacked them up, crimped the corner and sewed them to the shirt... just like the corsage. But, I only did 3 of these, evenly space up the neckline. Then, I added a large thrifted button on top of each that coordinated with the shirt. Ta Da- another embellished t-shirt!

I know - I know. Amazing, right? Please try to keep the applause to a minimum. HA! But honestly, it is allowing me to wear this shirt for another season, so I am a happy camper.

Here are the "flowers" close up...

And my moody, pensive stance... bored super models have NOTHING on me.

I believe I have about 7 more of these t-shirts in various colors, and in at least 3 different sizes. I may have to make a few more mods to them to spice up my 'jean and t-shirt' uniform that happens when I'm not at "work" work. Any ideas??

Colonial Apron Jumper

2009-10-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

Last week (the week before maybe?) I picked up a piece of home decor fabric from a thrift store. It had autumn colors - brown, gold, red - and had odd, little colonial scenes on it - weather vanes, clocks with gun racks, covered wagons, lanterns, Paul Revere-type guys on horses, etc. Just kooky enough to be right up our alley here. After a quick wash and hang on the line to dry (and a rain shower or 2 and a few more days on the line to dry) Rowan and I decided it should be reincarnated into a dress. I say reincarnated because it was obviously used as something before. It was serged up either side, and had small holes poked through the top. Maybe a curtain of some sort? Which is somewhat ironic, since the fabric I chose to line and make straps with was actually curtains in our last home. Huh.

Regardless, we used the Everyday Chaos Apron Dress tutorial and gave this fabric new life. The tutorial was wonderful - I love when people who take the time to grace us with their sewing wisdom have children the same age/size as mine! Hooray! I was able to make it using the exact dimensions (to make a size 6/7) for Rowan. I ended up having to cut a bit more off the hem than I had planned- forgot to take those odd holes into account when I cut the back of the skirt. I had to hem them off. So now it is really more of a tunic than a dress... but we are "dress with jeans underneath" kind of people here anyway! Here is what I'm calling our Colonial Apron Jumper...

And here is the back.

Seriously - there are clocks on this fabric...and lumberjacks and cannons. Strange but somewhat wonderful at the same time.

Instead of knotting the straps, Rowan wanted to have buttons. She spent the entire hour (or so) while I was sewing choosing buttons from my stash. She wanted the shiny, diamond-like clear plastic ones so badly - but I had to stick with what went well with the fabric and nix them. I felt bad- but promised they could be part of her Gypsy ensemble for Halloween.

While posing for pictures, Rowan kept closing her eyes. That is the reason for the possessed, stepford-esque gleam in her eyes here. Still cute, though, if you ask her biased mama...

Very belated gift...

2009-10-03T14:50:00.000-07:00

I felt justified in asking for a day of sewing today- it being my birthday and all. We are having a spell of terrible weather - rainy, dreary, cold... blah. Perfect sewing weather though, so I was able to finish a gift for my Aunt Nancy's birthday - which occurred just under a month ago. Ironic that I finished her birthday gift on my birthday, huh? She mailed me a fantastic package last week - some retro oilcloth and a corrugated metal pig (I'll blog it later - you gotta see it to believe), so the guilt was KILLING me.

With one of the amazing family pictures that Brooke took of Nance's family when they were home this summer, I made up another Tadpole photo tote. I used printable fabric for the photo and Tina Givens Cloe's Imagination fabric for the exterior. The interior is some thrifted floral fabric - I added 2 large pockets inside and I closed it with a magnetic clasp.

Because she did not *love* my corsage shirt of last week, I am passively aggressively trying to change her mind. I found a clearance shirt at Target this week, and I added a mini corsage to the neckline out of some thrifted knit fabric.

Maybe a smaller flower will change her mind?

This will all be popped in the mail Monday morning - along with a vintage pillowcase. She liked this shirt I made, and since I had the matching pillowcase, I thought she could make her own to match (if she wants!). Happy belated Nancy!